


Walk in another direction

by Thesaurus_with_no_words



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: AU, Aftermath of Torture, Alpha/Beta, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bottom Goku, Canonical Character Death, Courtship, Emotional Manipulation, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fork in the road AU, Gen, Intergalactic War, M/M, Mpreg, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Psychological Torture, Saiyan Culture, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Space Pirates, Torture, Trauma, but it's dragon ball sooo, eventually, planet vegeta didn't blow up, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 11:17:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 43
Words: 291,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11690523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thesaurus_with_no_words/pseuds/Thesaurus_with_no_words
Summary: A saiyan shows up to drag Goku off to space, willing or not.Problem is it's the wrong one.And he's 5 years early.





	1. A blast from your past.

**Author's Note:**

> This is total self-indulgence. I wanted to read this, yet here I am, writing it instead.  
> I'm doing a Toriyama and writing this by the seat of my ass.  
> Also, the "w" key on my keyboard is only occasionally functional, and I have no beta to spell check this monster, so you get what you see.  
> Now let's proceed to the smut feast! (After some 45 pages of plot. Ahem.)

**Earth; a few days after the 23 martial arts world tournament:**

 

The ocean was a calm crystal reflection of the sky, only a few fluffy white lamb clouds lazily drifting along. Muten Roshi was relaxing on his usual chair under his usual palm tree, finally able to breathe and not worry about any of his students or their associated trouble.

As usual, this was not meant to last.

“MAAASTER ROOOOSHIII!” A cheery voice called out from overhead and Roshi had to sigh. There went the peace.

“Goku.” He greeted as the teenager jumped from his golden cloud and landed on the sand. “I’m surprised to see you here; I thought you went off to get married?”

Goku scratched his hair, looking sheepish. “Yea… I thought I already _had_ gotten married, but apparently you need to sign things and hold a party and stuff.”

“Oh?” Roshi muttered as he made his way towards the front door, thinking of offering his guest something to drink. “That doesn’t sound so bad, the party that is. We’re all invited, yes?”

He heard Goku following him in. “Man, I don’t even know. You have to do all these specific things at the party and ChiChi says I have to learn to dance and she wants me to wear really stiff uncomfortable clothes and apparently I’m not allowed to eat any of the food before the speeches.” Goku whined and sat down at the living room table. “Getting married is complicated.”

Roshi chuckled. “So you ran off to here then.”

“It’s only for a little while, just until ChiChi stops being angry. That’s okay, right?” Goku wondered.

“Well…” Roshi said, putting a glass of sweet lemonade in front of his student. “Personally I don’t mind, and I’m sure Krillin will be happy to see you once he comes back, but running away from your future wife probably won’t help you in the long run.”

Goku pouted and rested his head on the table. “She was nicer when we were kids.”

“Oh I think she’s gotten plenty nice as she’s grown, especially at the front, he he he hehehe…”

Goku ignored his master and focused on his lemonade. Just as he finished his glass, Krillin returned, arms full of groceries. To the others’ surprise, Bulma was with him.

“Hey we’re ba—Goku?!” Krillin stopped, surprised, a tomato rolling out of the grocery bag from the jerky motion. Goku caught it easily and put it back with a smile.

“Yo!” Goku grinned.

Bulma pressed her way past Krillin who was sort of blocking the entrance. “Goku? My… I didn’t expect to see you here so soon.”

“He’s running away from his fiancée” Roshi informed them.

“Well that sounds promising.” Krillin muttered as he made his way into the kitchen.

“Really Goku?” Bulma sighed as Goku just laughed sheepishly. “I can’t even say I’m surprised.”

“What are you doing here Bulma?” Goku wondered, hoping to shift the focus onto someone else.

“Oh she’s just having another spat with Yamcha.” Krillin stated as he returned from the kitchen with more glasses and lemonade.

Bulma growled but didn’t deny it, instead she went to sit down next to Goku. “I feel sorry for ChiChi. Boys can be so dumb.” She lamented.

From there the conversation continued onto different topics, flowing easily between the old friends, with Roshi mostly reading his magazine to the side and only making occasional rejoinders.  

Best as they had settled into discussing what to make for dinner, and who should cook seeing as Launch was off to see Tien Shinhan, Goku stiffened and swirled his head towards the south.

“What’s wrong?” Bulma asked as Krillin and Master Roshi stiffened up too.

“Someone’s approaching, quickly. They’re… Really strong.” Goku said.

“Is it Piccolo?!” Bulma screeched, already thinking about how fast her helicopter could fly her away.

“No…” Goku swallowed and licked his lips nervously. “It’s someone stronger.”

“Wh-wha-what _is_ this ridiculous power level?!” Krillin asked, cold sweat gathering at his neck.

Everyone stood up and stumbled outside the house, just in time to see a stranger dressed in weird armor land on the beach.

The stranger cast a cold black eyed gaze across the people before him, the strange device covering his eye shrilling and beeping, before settling on Goku.

A slow unnerving smile settled over his face as he took in the teenager. “Ahhh, found you, Kakarot. Now, what have you been up to…” He grinned, and as the humans watched on nervously, a brown tail came up to settle around his hips.

“You—!” Goku gasped.

The stranger smirked.

 

**Space, the Orion Arm spiral, one week before:**

 

Machinery beeped and whirred to life as the saiyan woke up the spaceship’s intercom. Dried blood and sweat covered his temple, but he ignored it for now. The screen flickered as he waited for the long distance call to go through. Finally the screen cleared and another saiyan appeared.

_“Prince Vegeta! You’re safe. We were worried when you didn’t report back in time. Nappa said—”_

“I don’t care what Nappa said. I found the pirates. They seemed to have dealt with Frieza in the past, but they were ultimately a useless bunch. No valuable information.” He spat some blood out to the side. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but dealing with them on their ship had been troublesome with most of his techniques restricted to him lest he blow a hole in the hull. “Tell Turles he better have some more useful information next time or I’ll personally wipe the floor with him.”

On the screen the other Saiyan sighed. _“Well, it wasn’t an unexpected outcome. Where are you right now?”_

Vegeta frowned and checked his coordinates, becoming quickly irritated to see how far out he’d gotten. He sent his coordinates over and quickly went to grab a cloth so he could at least dry off the blood tickling from his temple.

_“This area… you appear to be close to Earth.”_

“Ee-arth? What the hell is that.” Vegeta growled as he threw the dirtied cloth away.

_“A fairly low-level but fertile planet, one we haven’t checked for survivors yet, and according to our logs…”_ The other saiyan trailed off as he read over something on one of his own screens, his expression growing complicated.

“Get to the point Raditz.” Vegeta demanded.

_“…It’s where my brother was sent.”_

“Your brother?” Vegeta snorted. “Wasn’t he assumed dead?”

On screen Raditz was frowning, concerned. _“Well, we figured he wouldn’t have been overlooked but nobody ever actually_ confirmed… _”_

“So go do it yourself, if you’re so curious.” Vegeta said, the ‘don’t waste my time’ heavily implied.

_“I would, but we’ve had no other reason to go to that sector and seeing as it’s so out of the way…”_

Vegeta closed his eyes and sighed. Wasted time on a wasted effort wasn’t something they could afford, especially when careless movements could prove fatal.

“Fine.” Vegeta said. “I’ll go see. Probably a complete waste of time, even if he does turn out to be alive.” He brought up the information and coordinates for Earth with an annoyed frown. “I’m going to checkpoint 8 afterwards in all circumstances. You better have a proper meal ready by then for having your prince do this low level work for you.” He threatened.

Raditz had the audacity to smile. _“Most of team C is going there too. I’ll see you then.”_ He said and the communication screen then turned black.

Vegeta looked over the still displayed information and coordinates one last time, set the ship to autopilot and then went to the small med-bay to treat his scratches. He was flying slowly out of caution in this unknown area, but it would still be less than seven days until he arrived on Earth; that gave him plenty of time to overlook and plan their next course of action. He cast one last glance at the screen.

“Kakarot, huh.”

 

**Earth, present:**

Vegeta took in the form of Raditz’ brother. They didn’t look much alike, which he thought was only in Kakarot’s favor. The other saiyan looked younger than he’d expected, and Vegeta suddenly remembered that actually; Kakarot had been the last and youngest child to be sent off.

Vegeta was surprised that he hadn’t been found and killed like so many of the other invasion babies. But looking at the scouter, his power level might have something to do with that.

“What the hell have you been doing Kakarot? This power level is pathetic. And you’re hanging out with humans. The order to annihilate the population may have been withdrawn for now, but this is simply ridiculous.” Vegeta said, even as the younger saiyan continued to stare uncomprehendingly at him.

“Wh—Who _are_ you? Why do you keep calling me Kakarot? My name is Goku. Why do you have a tail?” Kakarot asked, wide-eyed but alert.

Vegeta stared at him. “You have got to be kidding me. Were you dropped on the head when you were a child?”

“Yea actually. How did you know?”

Vegeta gaped. He’d meant that as a rhetorical question. “You—“ He cut himself off and used a hand to rub his forehead. “You actually have memory loss. Fantastic.”

xXx

Goku held out a hand to keep his friends behind him as the stranger talked at him. He didn’t know who the man was, but he could sense tremendous power from him; not something the others could handle. He doubted even _he_ could handle it.

“Stop calling me by that weird name! My name’s Goku! Who are you even?!” He yelled angrily.

The other man stared dully at him. “Right. I don’t have time for this. I’m tempted to leave you alone given your weak power level, but seeing as I already came all this way—” He disappeared faster than Goku could blink or even follow, only to reappear right in front of him, hand already fisted in Goku’s dougi.”—You’re coming with me.”

Before Goku could do anything to defend himself, a heavy fist landed in his gut, winding him completely and making him bow over in pain. “GHHAAaa!”

Goku slumped into his attacker, unable to draw air into his lungs. He felt the stranger take better hold of him, but before he could fly off with Goku, a ki blast aimed at his head forced the stranger to dodge.

“Hey! Let go of him!” Krillin yelled, hands still raised after the ki shot.

Goku felt the man sigh. “Really? You’re trying to resist? That’s adorable.” He raised the hand not holding Goku up to counterattack and feeling the violent power gathering there, aimed at his best friend, Goku finally found the strength to kick out, separating himself from the stranger.

He heard Bulma yell his name as he landed on his back in the sand and struggled to sit up.

“You too now? I shouldn’t have gone easy on you.” He heard the stranger say as Goku got his unsteady legs to carry him.

“I—“ Goku still had trouble breathing, “I don’t know who you are, and I’m not going with you!” He told the stranger with as much power as he could muster, glaring all the while.

The stranger tilted his head and smirked. “That’s really no way to talk to the prince of your entire race, now is it.” The stranger told him condescendingly. “And it’s not like you belong on Earth anyway, so why not? Why not come be with your own kind?”

_My own kind?_ Goku thought, confused.

“Hey! What do you mean? Why and where do you wanna take Goku?” He heard Bulma yell behind him.

She scuttled back when the stranger turned to glare at her.

“He’s a saiyan, an alien to you people, one sent here to destroy you originally, even though evidently he’s forgotten all about that. And I am Vegeta, the prince of _all_ saiyans.” The stranger – Vegeta – answered before taking several steps closer to Goku again.

“Now come along quietly, or I promise the next tab I give you won’t be so gentle.”

“Go to hell!” Goku yelled and fired an instant Kamehameha at the prince.

Vegeta batted the shot away like you would a fly, causing it to hit the ocean and explode the water into tsunami like waves.

Before Goku could even process what had happened, he felt a presence at his back, a hard hit to his neck, and then everything went black.

xXx

Vegeta grabbed the now unconscious teen before he could hit the sand and turned him around to carry him in both his arms. Kakarot’s face was lax and his breathing was even, but Vegeta wasn’t worried anyway. He’d never have missed the pressure point.

As he lifted into the air, ready to depart, the little bald human called out to him again.

“H-hey! You can’t just take him even if you’re prince of whatever! Give Goku back! Why do you even want him?!”

Vegeta snorted and looked down at the pathetic creatures below him. “As you can see, I obviously can. As for why, pray that it will never be any of your concern, because that would mean Frieza has set his eyes on you. So pray to your gods or whatever you believe in that he continues to ignore you; or a planet full of weaklings like you will be decimated in a single day.” He flew higher and turned his back on them. “Food for thought.” He added, before blasting off, the unconscious Kakarot lax in his arms.

xXx

The stranger, the self-proclaimed alien prince, disappeared into the horizon in the blink of an eye; his ki quickly growing distant.

Bulma fell to her knees, eyes rapidly wetting. “No way. H-he just took him. We couldn’t do anything!”

Krillin sank down too, hands clenched in despair. “Even Goku couldn’t… Shit!” He hit his fist into the ground, eyes squeezed shut.

Behind them Master Roshi had remained quiet during the confrontation, able to tell from the start that they’d had no chance, but not willing to miss anything by panicking. “This is certainly bad. Judging by the fact that the man is an alien, he probably won’t be long in taking Goku off planet… But I’m not sure if we can even do anything to prevent that before then.” He said, deeply troubled. Even if they went after him, they had no hope of defeating this Vegeta person; he was simply too strong.

“Well, maybe I can be of some help.” A deep voice spoke up unexpectedly behind them.

They all whirled around to stare. “Piccolo!?!”

Piccolo smirked at them, before slowly turning more serious. “Let me be clear; I don’t give a rat’s ass about Goku, but some of the other things that stranger said bother me. And I have a feeling my _better half_ may give us some answers.”

Roshi and Krillin remained on guard, and surprisingly it was Bulma who stepped forward first, drying her eyes and looking straight at the green man. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s go.”


	2. Arrival

 

Vegeta settled the unconscious Kakarot into the healing tank as soon as they got back to the ship. The hits he’d taken from Vegeta shouldn’t have done much damage, but he wanted to see a diagnostic run on the younger saiyan, and it was better to keep him sedated in the tank while they traveled anyway. Less trouble.

Vegeta wasted no time alighting from the mudball of a planet, setting the coordinates for Checkpoint 8 and making sure that all the drones he’d sent for data gathering on the planet had returned and logged themselves in properly, before closing the ship and decompressing to the right gravity.

Then all he had to do was sit back and watch the stars fly by, while he took bites from a crunchy red fruit one of the drones had brought back. At least this time he wouldn’t have to make the journey back to base without fresh provisions.

The days went by quickly this way, with Vegeta sending missives of retrieval success and estimated time of arrival. He looked over the diagnostic runs made on Kakarot and frowned at the results. He’d expected the computer to pick up the almost decades old cranial damage, which it had, but the younger saiyan’s hormonal levels and blood work was coming out completely screwed, yet the computer didn’t seem to think there was much of a problem. It might have something to do with Kakarot’s tail having been removed, but the gland at the base still seemed intact, so Vegeta couldn’t see why… Well, he wasn’t a medic or a doctor anyway. He’d let Basil look it over back at the checkpoint.

In the meantime Kakarot slept the peaceful sleep of the drugged in the tank, his black hair billowing around him in the green liquid. Vegeta watched him sometimes, taking in the features of the youngest saiyan to join the Outsiders in almost two decades. If they came by base 1 at some point, he’d better alert the Insiders to this development too, if Raditz hadn’t already. It was the first piece of vaguely good news that they’d had in a while.

Vegeta sighed as he watched Kakarot. “If you’d at least been stronger…” He told the sleeping boy. “Still, you may prove useful, if those power fluctuations the scouter picked up wasn’t a malfunction.” He turned around to cast a glance at the weighted clothes he had pulled off Kakarot before stuffing him in the tank. Clearly the younger saiyan had done _some_ training while on Earth, though evidently he didn’t have much to show for it.

Oh well, the teen still wasn’t fully developed according to the computer, so there was hope still. Vegeta contemplated this as they rapidly approached checkpoint 8.

xXx

Coming back to a base, or a checkpoint, could never be said to feel like coming home. Still, it was several steps up from being trapped on a ship, and checkpoint 8 was one of the rare ones actually placed on a planet instead of an asteroid in circulation or a sunless moon. An honor usually only reserved for the bigger bases.

Vegeta’s scouter picked up people having gathered on ground already as he entered the atmosphere, and he couldn’t help but feel vaguely amused. Evidently the other saiyans were curious about his unexpected find. Speaking off.

Vegeta went to the healing tank and made sure to have it pump an extra dose of sedatives and nutrients into Kakarot before he set it to empty the chamber. No reason to have him wake up before Basil had gotten a chance to look at him.

The machine was ready just as they landed and he pulled Kakarot out and lifted him up in both arms again as he made his way outside; flying drones filled with data bobbing along behind him with happy whirs, almost as they were pleased to have touched planet too.

“Prince Vegeta!”

“Prince!”

“Welcome back, your highness.”

“Is it true? You found one?”

“Is that him?”

Greetings and questions bombarded him as he made his way down the ramp and towards the inside buildings. He frowned at the annoyance of the others pestering him, but he could understand the excitement. It had been at least 7 years since the last time they’d found a survivor, and even then it’d been nothing but a renegade pirate.

“If you’re all so curious you can read the briefing once it’s released.” He told them, loud enough to be heard above the clamor and in a tone that didn’t welcome any complaints.

Vegeta made his way unobstructed to the med-bay after that.    

Basil was flitting around, already more focused on his new patient than on Vegeta, even before the prince had managed to place the teen on the medical bed.

“My my, he certainly is a young one. Hmm, and these readings, curious….” Basil muttered, bent over Kakarot with his two eyed scouter beeping away. Vegeta stayed, leaning against the wall, because frankly, he was curious about that too. He waved the drone carrying Kakarot’s medical results over to connect with Dr. Basil’s machinery.

The doctor eagerly turned around to examine the files as soon as they had loaded, but soon his face melted more and more into a frown. “My prince… Are you certain you made the right inputs to the computer and healing tank? These readings… They don’t add up with his infant file.”

Vegeta bristled at the accusation. “Yes, Basil. I’m not an idiot, I did it correctly, but I noticed the irregularities too.” 

Basil continued to hem and hum as he pressed several buttons to check who knew what. “Well, this is surprising.” He said after several minutes, which with Basil could be either an understatement or an overstatement, one never knew. Vegeta perked up anyway.

“What?” He asked.

Basil ignored him. “Before that, isn’t his brother—“

Just then Raditz barged into the room, eyes quickly focusing on the bed where his brother lay. “Is it true, is he?—“ He cut himself off and ignoring both the doctor and the prince quickly went to stand by the bed. He studied his brother’s unconscious features.

“He looks a lot like father… But softer, especially around the eyes and mouth.” Raditz noted, maybe mostly to himself. Vegeta snorted anyway.

“Very touching Raditz.” He snarked. “Now, doctor, seeing as the hairball’s here, why don’t you give us the verdict?”

“What verdict?” Raditz asked, turning away from his brother with a confused frown.

Basil adjusted his scouter. “Yes, well, firstly. Raditz, did your parents ever confirm to you your brother’s gender?”

Raditz blinked. “Well, he was sent off planet as a child, so obviously he’s an alpha?” He said.

Basil held up a finger. “That _is_ what you’d think. What I thought too, but see, when I looked at his infant files, they appeared to have been messed with, and actually, the sendoff order appears to have been rushed, maybe even forged, too.”

Raditz appeared wordless but Vegeta straightened up, arms still crossed. “What are you saying then? Someone got in the system and changed it?”

“Yes!” The doctor almost jumped from excitement. “Look—Look at this. His current bloodwork and hormone readings don’t add up with the old files at all!” Basil cheered and brought up the files on screen for comparison.

Vegeta didn’t bother looking at them. “Get to the point.” He demanded, eyes fixed on the sleeping figure of Kakarot behind Raditz.

The doctor managed to pull himself together. “Ahem, yes, well. It means someone went through an awful lot of trouble to get him off planet, going as far as to temper with official files, I can’t even imagine who—“

“Fucking Bardock.” Vegeta growled.

Raditz swirled his head around to look at him. “You mean my father was the one to—?”

“Who else?” Vegeta spat before massaging his temples.

Doctor Basil nodded. “Yes, yes… I can see why he might have done that, given the situation at the time.” He coughed once to clear his throat. “Anyway, the unexpected problem we are facing here is that Kakarot is _not_ in fact an alpha like you’d expect, but a _beta_.” 

Raditz stumbled. “A beta?! No, that— That’s impossible? Only one out of a thousand males are born with the ability to carry, and no one in their right mind would send them off to—“

“Shut up Raditz.” Vegeta told him. The prince had been more prepared for the news, suspecting as much from Basil’s earlier statements, but even then he was still shocked. Having a male beta living with them on the outside… This was definitely courting trouble.

“Yes it’s very surprising, to say the least.” Basil said with a nod. “Good news though; he isn’t yet fully matured and though his tail gland appears undamaged he’s unlikely to progress before his tail grows back.”

“But it will?” Raditz asked nervously.

The doctor pressed a couple of buttons and brought another file up on the screen. “Hmm, yes. It doesn’t appear to have been removed that long ago, and he’s young enough that he should still be able to do it on his own. Buuuut I suppose I can give him something to help, why, a single injection should be enough.” The doctor hummed and started going through a drawer for the right bottle and syringe.  

“Before that.” Vegeta interrupted. “Do you even have any suppressants for him? I can _not_ have an untrained barely of age male beta go into heat on a base or ship full of restless agitated alpha warriors. That’ll be courting disaster. If _he-“_ He pointed to the unconscious Kakarot “-doesn’t destroy something and cause constant mayhem, then the others will in their pursuit of him anyway. And we can’t afford to be distracted with Frieza’s forces breathing down our necks, eager to blow us to particle dust.”

Doctor Basil stopped his search and glanced hesitantly at Raditz.

Raditz still looked lost at the proceedings, but he seemed to shake himself before speaking to the doctor. “I’m not happy about this either, but if he’s going to grow his tail anyway and go into heat, wouldn’t it be better for us to know when so we can take precautions? I mean, he only had drone information with him, so who knows how much he even remembers about saiyan culture anyway.”

“Nothing.” Vegeta said.

“What?”

“He remembers _nothing_.” Vegeta clarified. “He didn’t even know he was a saiyan, and he fought me when I tried to take him with me.”

“…He what?!?” Raditz asked, shocked. He looked from his little brother and back at Vegeta.

Vegeta felt a tension headache coming on, and suddenly desired for this nonsense to be over with. “As I said, he was hostile, very much so. No desire to follow orders, and he appeared to be friendly with the local population; even willingly protecting them behind himself from one of his own. Apparently he hit his head once as a child. Hard.”

Vegeta walked over to the bed, pushing Raditz to the side and reaching out, turning Kakarot’s head and parting his dark hair until he found the still slightly raised scar he knew would be there. “It’s a miracle he didn’t _die._ ” He said, before turning towards Raditz. “Anyway, I doubt he’ll be happy to see me, and he’s even less likely to be cooperative, so I need you to play attentive concerned big brother.”

Raditz made a face at that. He’d been curious about meeting his brother, maybe sparring with him, but he hadn’t planned to have any more to do with him than that.

“Do as you’re told.” Vegeta cautioned him. “And do it well. From the information the drones picked up it seems earthlings value close interpersonal relationships between families, so I’m telling you to _use_ that. Get on his good side. We don’t need a renegade confused child running off on his own and bumping into Frieza, leading him strait to us.”

Raditz gritted his teeth but nodded. Vegeta thought privately that he’d probably do fine. Raditz had always been on the sly and crafty side, often tricking opponents and playing mind games rather than immediately risk himself. One of the many reasons why the lower class warrior was still so weak compared to his peers in Vegeta’s opinion.

Vegeta went over to Dr. Basil and pointed out the scouter readings he’d gotten on Kakarot and the humans’ power levels. “They seem to fluctuate. Not sure if it’s a malfunction or…”

“You think you might have found a species able to hide or amplify their power level?” Basil asked, brows raised.

“I’m not hoping for anything yet. But check it out. I especially don’t want to be surprised by the brat proving more competent than he seemed.” Vegeta said, making a gesture towards Kakarot’s prone form and the frowning Raditz beside him.

“I’m going to the briefing room. Send Nappa to find me there.” He ordered the doctor, having left his scouter in his care. “Raditz, your brother is officially your responsibility for now. Keep his gender on the down low for as long as you can and make sure he doesn’t cause any trouble, or it’ll be your hide.” Vegeta told the warrior, then turned to leave, expecting his orders to be followed.

Before he exited something occurred to him, and he smirked before looking back at Raditz.

“Oh, and Raditz? On Earth only females can carry children, so have fun explaining that to him.”

Then he left, smirking, with the sound of Raditz’s loud cursing behind him.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Vegeta is having a bad day, you better bet he'll make sure someone else does too.
> 
> Don't worry Raditz, you'll be fine. Your brother isn't the sharpest tool in the shed all the time. Maybe he's born with it, maybe its the head trauma. The gossip varies.


	3. Brothers reunite.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Raditz lays it on thick.

 

It was bright when Goku woke up, and he stretched, wondering why. Had he fallen asleep outside? His head felt muggy, and information on his surroundings was slow to tickle in. When they finally did, he almost fell off whatever he’d been laying on.

Beside him Goku registered an unusually high unknown ki, and suddenly memories starting rushing back. Kame house. The stranger. The fight. He gasped and finally opened his eyes fully, trying to draw himself into a fighting stand, but his body wouldn’t even cooperate to let him stand up.

“Easy, easy, schhhh…” Someone hushed him.

Goku squinted his eyes until they finally focused on the stranger beside him. “Who are you? W-where am I?” He asked around a thick tongue. His mouth tasted dreadful and his head was spinning.

The new stranger had a lot of dark spiky hair all the way down his back, his eyes were dark and—He had a tail. “You’re with him!” Goku yelled and lashed out, or tried to, but all he really succeeded in doing was to finally topple off the table like bed he’d been lying on. Only the new stranger catching him and guiding him back prevented him from getting intimate with the stone floor.

“Calm down Kakarot, you’re safe here, this is a medical bay and—“

“That— That is _not_ my name.” Goku gasped, winded and confused by his body’s unresponsiveness.

The stranger seemed taken aback by this. “Okay, right…” He ran a palm down his face before refocusing on Goku. “I know you must be very confused, but for now just listen to me and I promise I’ll try to answer all the questions you have afterwards, okay?”

Goku stared back, but seeing as he evidently wasn’t going anywhere right now, he ended up nodding warily. 

The stranger took a deep breath to seemingly center himself, before starting. “Right, so first of, my name is Raditz.” He put a hand over his heart like a greeting. “And I’ve wanted to meet you for a very long time.”

“…Why?” Goku asked, suspicious.

“Because you’re my little brother.”

Goku gaped, he couldn’t help it. He took in the stranger, Raditz, his brother? With new eyes; trying to find similarities. He couldn’t settle on one specific thing, but in the end he thought that overall there seemed to be something almost eerily familiar about him.

“I have a brother?” He asked, trying to process that, then: “Wait, does that mean I have parents?!”

Raditz smiled at him. “Of course we have parents. You look so much like father.”

When Goku just stared at him, Raditz’ smile slid into a frown. “Just how hard did you hit your head?” He asked. “Anyway, I was getting to that. First thing you need to know Kakarot—“

“—Goku.”

“…Right, well, your _birth name_ is Kakarot, and I’m sure you’d remember that, except you are suffering from memory loss after that time you hit your head as a child. Do you know how old you were then?”

Goku tried to recall what grandfather Gohan had told him about it. “Maybe around… Four?”

Raditz nodded. “That would be fitting, seeing as you were sent to Earth when you were three.”

“Why?” Goku frowned. “Why would you send me to Earth? Unless mom and dad didn’t want me…?” He had used to assume he’d been left in the mountains because of his tail. That he’d maybe been a crossbreed between an animal type and a human type person.

“No!” Raditz almost yelled, grabbing Goku’s hand. “No, don’t think that Kakarot, we did it to _protect_ you.” He said imploringly.

Goku looked at their clasped hands. “Protect me?” He asked, voice small. “From what?”

Raditz sighed and squeezed his hand, his eyes turning sad and distant. “From a terrible enemy. One who would have destroyed not only our people, but our entire planet Vegeta. Only the actions of our father prevented the most horrible thing from passing. I shudder to think what would have happened if the king hadn’t listened to him.”

“So our dad saved you too?” Goku wondered, trying to imagine the man he apparently looked like.

“He saved all of us.” Raditz confirmed. “But he wasn’t sure he’d be able to, so him and mom, they sent you off the planet in secret, just in case. I was already on another planet.”

Goku took that in for a moment. “Why didn’t they come find me then? When everyone had been saved?”

Raditz’ smile slid completely off his face. “Because they couldn’t Kakarot.”

“Oh…” Goku swallowed heavily.

“They’re not dead,” Raditz hurried to reassure. “But they were prevented from coming to get you, or help any of us on the outside.”

“The outside?”

Raditz blinked. “Right, of course you wouldn’t know about that. You see, when the planet was almost destroyed, a powerful shield was raised around it to prevent it. The shield absorbed the blast shot to destroy our planet like it was meant to, but see, that energy has to be spent, and even to this day the shield still burns strong with it. It keeps enemies out… And most of us in.”

“You can’t go through it? Or stop it somehow?” Goku asked.

Raditz chuckled bitterly. “No. And gods know we tried. It wasn’t planned to do that, but we had practically no time to prepare… And even if we _could_ technically remove it, we still couldn’t.”

“Why?” Goku wondered.

“Because our enemy is still out there, and he still wants to destroy us.” Raditz said, shoulders tense.

Goku frowned. “Well, why don’t you fight him? I can tell you’re pretty strong, and if there are more guys like you then—“

“It’s not that simple little brother. Frieza is unbelievably powerful, and so is his army. He’s the leader of a pirate empire, one that steals planets.”

“How do you _steal_ planets?” Goku asked, unable to wrap his head around the idea completely. Maybe something like what the first Piccolo did?

“By killing the entire population and then selling their home off to the highest bidder.”

“That’s insane!” Goku stated, horrified.

“Yes, so you see why we’re not eager to face him head on. Especially with most of our race still trapped on Planet Vegeta.”

Goku nodded, trying to take everything he’d just learned in. But it was so much! And he still had questions. At least his big brother seemed nice. Much nicer than the maniac who’d kidnapped him. Speaking of.

“The guy who came to Earth, he kidnapped me! He seemed really bad.”

Raditz winced. “Yes… Vegeta, he’s, erh, he has his reasons for being like he is.”

“Wait, Vegeta? Like your planet?”

“ _Our_ planet.” Raditz sighed. “And yes, it’s the same, because he’s the prince.”

Goku boggled at that. “Really? Didn’t seem like it. I mean, he was strong and all, I could tell by his ki, but he seemed like a bad guy.”

Raditz shifted nervously. “He’s, errh, troubled. But he did come all that way to get you, when it’s been too dangerous for us to do so far. And what do you mean by Ki? What is that?”

Goku tilted his head. “Well you know… Energy? It’s how you feel how strong your opponent or even yourself is?”

Raditz’ eyes widened. “Do you mean battle power? You can _feel_ that?”

“Well yea…?”

“Do me. Try it on me.” Raditz demanded, waving towards himself.

Goku huffed, amused, but obliged. He closed his eyes to focus better seeing as he was still somewhat groggy. Still, it didn’t take long for him to feel his big brother’s ki licking around him like orange-red flames. “Whoa, well with you flaring your ki like that, it’s easy to tell. Compared to when I’m on my baseline I guess you’d be, hmmm, almost four times stronger than me.”

“Flaring? Baseline? You mean you can _control_ how much battle power you show?” Raditz asked, bogeyed. He shook his head, “Wait a moment, let me just…” He bent to the side and picked up one of those weird face half glasses off of the small table standing there. He put it on and seemed to adjust it, pressing the side and focusing on Goku while the machine beeped.

“Okay, so the scouter says your current reading is 400, but you’re saying you can go beyond that?”

Goku tilted his head. “Well, yes, but if I tried I might destroy the room, and I’m also really hungry…” He pouted.

Raditz ignored his face. “But can you try to go double? Just try it, to show me?” He urged. When Goku just frowned, he continued. “I promise I’ll get us food afterwards, and answer more of your questions.”

At the promise of food Goku lit up. “Okay, I guess I’ll try to double it.”

“Ready?” Raditz asked, scouter focused.

“Yep.” Goku said, then closed his eyes and started focusing his power. It was like getting ready to shoot a Kamehameha, except he wasn’t actually going to shoot anything, just hold the energy. He heard Raditz gasp from beside him as Goku steadily increased his power, going higher and higher until he figured he’d about doubled it. “Am I there yet?” Goku asked his brother, voice slightly strained.

“Gods… Yes yes, you’re there. Battle power 910.” Raditz assured, voice awed.

Goku powered down with a sigh and flopped back in bed. “Good, cause I’m still really tired.”

“You mean you think you can go higher?” Raditz pressed.

Goku shrugged and yawned. “Maybe, yea, a bit I think.”

Raditz rubbed his chin, watching his little brother with new eyes. “That’s pretty fascinating. Mind you, you’re still nowhere near high level, you’re not even close to me, but being able to raise and subdue your power like that… Actually, can you shrink it too?”

“Yea, I can make it go so low others can’t feel me. Can be useful.” He yawned again. “You promised me food.” He grumbled.

Raditz seemed still mostly absorbed in the new information he’d acquired but he nodded distractedly and stood up to find his brother some clothes so he could bring him to the mess. He needed to bring these news to Vegeta stat. Being able to raise or hide their battle power would be a giant advantage against Frieza.

“Someone’s coming.” Goku said, sitting back up in the bed and wriggling his toes just to see if they were starting to be more cooperative.

Raditz looked at him “What do you—“ But before he could finish his question dr. Basil barged into the room, face sweaty and eyes wide, he looked from Goku to Raditz and back. “That sudden power level spike…”

“Yea, that was Kakarot.” Raditz said, surprised to feel somewhat proud. “Asked him to double it, just to show me. You noticed it?”

“ _Noticed it?_ ” Basil scoffed. “Everyone with a scouter on at the whole damn base noticed it and I had to stop several of them from coming here.”

Raditz grinned. “That’s not even the whole of it, he can lower it to practically nothing too and I think he can tell peoples positions or movements with it?” He asked the last part at Goku, who by now had thrown his legs over the side of the bed and was sitting up, giving the doctor a wary look.

“Yea, I can tell direction and movement, and sorta what people are doing if it’s someone I know.” Goku confirmed, eyes still on Basil.

“This is amazing!” Basil cheered. “Someone go tell Vegeta, immediately!”

“I will, but first I promised my brother here some grub.” Raditz said, throwing an arm around Goku’s shoulders. “These are for you, by the way. Not completely sure about the size, but the material stretches.”

Goku frowned down at the cloth like armor Raditz held out to him. “What about my own clothes?” He wondered.

“Well, it’s here but…” He gestured to the corner where the orange robes had been placed together with the heavy blue shirt and shoes, mostly so Dr. Basil could study the material of the two latter.

“Great!” Goku said, standing up to get it.

“Ah, wait!” Basil implored, quickly snatching the shoes, wristbands and shirt. “I still need to check these, it’s, uhm, procedure.”

Goku frowned, hand still outstretched. “Well okay I guess… But I can take my gi, right?”

“The orange thing? Yes, here you go. You can use the shoes your brother found for you.”

Goku quickly got dressed and hurried to the door where Raditz waited. He felt apprehension as he walked outside the long hallway, following his brother. He could feel several people, a lot of people, many of them stronger than him at this place, wherever it was. Goku just hoped it wasn’t too far from Kame House. He wanted to go back soon and reassure the others that he was okay, and that he’d even met his brother! Still, he wondered where on earth there’d been a place like this and how he’d never run into any of all these strong fighters before.

“Here we are.” Raditz told him, stopping in front of an automatic door, with several boisterous voices sounding from inside. “This is the mess hall. Now, people are gonna be curious about you, but you can just stick to me and ignore them, and I’ll deal with them. I think I’ll just choose your food too for now, seeing as you don’t how to avoid the weird shit yet.”

Goku nodded and followed Raditz closely as he waved open the door and walked in. Immediately the voices dimmed, and several gazes locked unto them, following their walk across the mess closely. Goku watched them right back. The first thing he noticed was that there were many different kinds of beings, and not only ones that looked like him and Raditz. Skin colors in all shades, and people all sizes too. Several ones did look like him though, with long brown or black tails and spiky hair.

He hardly noticed his brother getting their food and pulling them across the room to a table near the corner, too busy gawking.

“Here we go.” Raditz said as they sat down. “Hope you still like kironge. I snagged you several.”

“Kiro-wha?” Goku asked, focusing back on his brother and their food.

Raditz pointed at some purpleish spiky fruits which had been cut in half and whose flesh looked soft and supple. Goku’s mouth watered and he wasted no time using a spoon to gorge himself on them.

“…Guess that’s a yes.” Raditz mumbled with a snort before starting on his own portion. Kakarot had been a toddler the last time Raditz had seen him, but some things seemed to have stayed the same. 

It only took a couple of minutes for them to be interrupted.

“Hey Raditz, so this is him huh?” Some yellow guy asked. Goku watched him out the corner of his eyes, but decided to focus on his food. Raditz had promised to deal with it.

“Yea, this is the squirt. Never thought I’d meet him again.”

Raditz and the yellow guy continued to talk, with more and more people slowly joining while Goku continued to eat.

“Well, he certainly has a saiyan appetite!” Someone laughed.

Goku didn’t pay much attention otherwise, but he did notice that Raditz seemed to dodge questions quite skillfully, diverting attention to other places easily and making people talk about themselves instead of him and Goku. It probably wasn’t something Goku would have noticed had he been talking with Raditz himself, but watching him like this… He filed it away for later. There was food to eat.

By the time they’d finished eating most of the crowd had tickled off, leaving Goku and Raditz to leave the mess unhindered.

“I guess I should show you to my quarters now, or the room I usually use on this base anyway, so you know where to find me.”

“Am I staying there too?” Goku asked, choosing for now not to mention his plans to leave and find his friends.

“No, not tonight at least. Basil wants you back at the med bay. There’s still stuff he wants to test, plus there’s several things about being saiyan that you don’t know about yet, so it’s better if you stay under supervision.”

Goku pouted. He’d never had to go to the hospital a day in his life for himself, so being confined to a medical area didn’t suit him.

“I’ll come right back tomorrow, take you to do some drills if Basil clears you. I think the plan is to stay on this planet for about a week.” Raditz said.

Goku stopped. “This planet?” He asked, tension and fear creeping into his voice. “What do you mean? This isn’t somewhere on Earth?!”

“No, we’re lightyears away from Earth. It’s been over a week since Vegeta got you.” Raditz answered distractedly, finally turning around and looking puzzled. It quickly turned to worry once he saw Goku tensing.

Raditz realized he’d screwed up.

“A week!? Light years?!”

Raditz held out a hand beseechingly. “Calm down Kakarot, don’t do anything you—“

But it was too late. With a sudden power boost, Goku blasted off, curving his flight with the shape of the hallway until he broke straight through several doors and what looked like a hanger, before finally breaking outside, continuing to shoot up into the sky before finally stopping and looking around.

Everything looked weird. The sky was purple, the landscape a strange mix of pale green rocks, sand and yellow plants. Goku turned around himself in bewilderment and fear. How would he get home? “No… NO!”

Back in the hallway, Raditz still stood with his hand outstretched, having been taken unprepared by his so far mostly docile little brother’s sudden burst of anger, power and speed.

He could hear people yelling about fire from the direction Goku had flown off in.

Slowly Raditz let his hand fall.

“Vegeta’s gonna kill me.”

 

 

 


	4. Uncomfortable learning.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, he did ask for answers.

Vegeta wanted many things: His people’s victory over Frieza first and foremost, but right now he’d settle for a nap instead of having to deal with Nappa wailing on him about going off on his own.

He’d left his scouter with Dr. Basil and had instead equipped a wrist pad, which beeped with information on the going ons on the base every so often. He’d just opened the message detailing the Earthlings’, and Kakarot’s, ability to raise and lower power levels, and he was feeling pretty satisfied that his visit to Earth wouldn’t prove a wasted effort, when several loud bangs followed by what sounded like a small explosion was heard and the light flickered before the power evened back out.

“What the hell?” Nappa asked, eyes on the lights.

Vegeta quickly looked to his wrist pad to see if any information was forthcoming, but nothing showed up. With a curse he stood up and exited the briefing room instead.

In the hallway a small group of people were running by, and Vegeta grabbed one of them as they passed him. “What’s happening. Are we under attack?”

The soldier was wide eyed. “Some guy just blasted his way outside all of a sudden. A door in the hanger short-circuited and they’re saying there’s a fire.”

Vegeta cursed mentally. “Smother it before it can damage the ships, and tell me what idiot is responsible.” Though he suspected he could guess.

“I-I think it was the new guy, sir. The one you brought back.”

Vegeta let the soldier go and quickly set his way towards Raditz. Near the med bay, he figured. “RADITZ!” He bellowed.

He’d been right. Vegeta soon found the other warrior, already making ready, it seemed, to go after his wayward brother.

“What the _hell_ happened? I told you to be careful of him.” He demanded to know.

Raditz looked stressed. “I was, it was going well, until he figured out you had chartered him off to another planet over a week ago.”

“I _told you_ he was going to be uncooperative.” Vegeta growled. “Never mind, give me your scouter.” He snatched it off of Raditz’ face before the other saiyan could protest.

Vegeta instantly started searching for Kakarot’s energy signature with it.

“Uhh, prince.” Raditz said haltingly. “I think you should know: He can apparently hide his energy, making himself practically invisible to our scanners. Also, he can tell if people are approaching him and how fast, without any technological help.”

“Fantastic.” Vegeta sneered. He’d found Kakarot with the scouter; the younger saiyan was still outside, having apparently not hidden himself yet. “Seems like I have to do things myself. I hope you enjoyed meeting your brother, Raditz. I’m probably going to kill him now.”

He flew off before Raditz could protest. Time to curb stomp an idiot.

xXx

Goku hang in the air above the base, watching a thin tail of smoke spiral up from close to where he’d exited. He felt vaguely guilty about that. Still, what did they expect? They had kidnapped him.

He looked around the strange landscape, unsure of his next move. He could maybe go back to Raditz, but he had a feeling his older brother wasn’t telling him everything, or planning to.

Something which really bugged Goku was what that maniac, Vegeta, had said to him before knocking him unconscious and carrying him off. Something about orders to annihilate the population? Meaning all humans on Earth, right? That seemed fishy. It actually stank. That was the same thing Raditz had told him that that space pirate Freezer or whatever was doing. It didn’t add up.

Goku thought about stealing a ship and going back to Earth, but he had no idea where he was or how to pilot one.

Before he could plan anything else, he was suddenly knocked out of the sky by someone body slamming him.

Goku careened into the rocky ground below, gravel and sand flying in the air around the new crater surrounding him as he coughed. Before he could get back up a boot landed on his sternum, forcing him back down. He grabbed the stranger’s foot around the ankle to try and force him off, but he wouldn’t budge. Goku looked up at his attacker.   

“Ve-Vegeta”

The prince looked down at him, sneering. “You are _really_ proving to be a waste of time and effort. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Goku scrabbled at the ground to try and get away, but Vegeta just pressed his foot down harder, holding him in place and forcing the air from Goku’s lungs and causing his ribs to strain until tears gathered in the younger saiyan’s eyes. He couldn’t breathe.

“Y-you ki-kidnapped me.”

Vegeta scoffed. “You can’t steal or kidnap someone you _own_. I’m your prince, and your commanding officer. You belong to me, no matter what ridiculous notions you have about going back to your pathetic weak mudball. You have no choice but to _obey_.” The prince ended his lecture with a hard kick to Goku’s side, sending him flying again.

Goku was thrown like a stone skipping on water, except this resulted in several more injuries. He rolled to a stop quite a distance away, skin feeling like it’d been sandpapered off.

Goku struggled to raise himself up with his arms, focusing his glare on Vegeta who was already next to him again. Goku couldn’t even see him move.

“Screw you –“ He coughed. “You talked about anihi – cough – about _killing_ everyone on Earth. You’re just as bad as that Freezer guy.” Goku accused.

Vegeta’s eyes went dark. Goku thought he’d been serious before, but evidently not, with the raw power of ki suddenly exploding out of him. “Don’t. You. DARE! Compare me to Frieza!” Vegeta roared, grabbing Goku’s shirt in one hand and using the other to punch him so hard in the face that his head snapped back and everything went black for a moment.

Vegeta shook him, then slapped his other cheek; disallowing Goku’s escape into unconsciousness. “You have no idea what that monster have done; what he’s forced _me_ and your entire race to do!”

Another punch.

“So don’t you dare talk shit when you don’t know anything!” Vegeta ended his tirade by throwing Goku to the ground, settling on his chest and then proceeding to hit him repeatedly, again and again and again, until all Goku knew was the pain of Vegeta’s fists and the rapidly encroaching darkness.

“Vegeta! Don’t kill him, please he could still—“ The new voice tapered off into unrecognizable sounds as Goku lost his grip on consciousness.

He wasn’t sure if he would wake again.

xXx

Vegeta glared over his shoulder at Raditz who had grabbed his arm, preventing him from pummeling Kakarot anymore. “You dare interfere?” He snarled.

Raditz looked panicked. “Please. He can still—I’ll be more careful this time. I can stop him myself; I just didn’t have the chance to explain everything to him before he snapped. Please Vegeta he’s a _beta_ , you can’t.”

Vegeta was still seeing red. “I don’t care if he’s the second coming of lady Musul! He’s a god damned liability and an idiot.”

Raditz continued to pull on his arm. “You don’t mean that. Even you wouldn’t go unpunished from killing a male beta. And his control of his battle power, we need him to teach us that. He won’t work with us under the threat of death, trust me, he seems like the stubborn type. Let me deal with him.”

Vegeta breathed heavily through his nose, but then relaxed his fist and allowed himself to be pulled off of Kakarot.

Raditz immediately sank down next to his brother and checked his vitals. “Kakarot? Kakarot? …Goku?” He cursed. “He’s barely breathing. If he doesn’t get to a healing tank now he’ll die.”

“Take him then.” Vegeta dismissed. “And this time, make sure you explain everything to him. I don’t care what you do to make him cooperate, but remember: If you can’t manage it I’ll be the one having a go at him next.”

Raditz nodded angrily before flying away with his limp brother in his arms.

Vegeta watched them fly off, then turned and spat on the ground where Kakarot had laid. Something about the younger saiyan pushed his buttons and not in a good way. Raditz was right; they needed him for battle power control. Still, Vegeta doubted he’d prove useful for anything else.

He blasted a rock the size of a small mountain to pieces before flying back himself. Stress relief was important.

xXx

 

This time when Goku awoke, he felt weightless. It took him a while to figure out that it was because he actually _was._ When he opened his eyes he could tell he was submerged in green water, but he seemed able to breathe without trouble. It took him a minute to credit that to the breathing apparatus stuck to his face.

In front of him was a see-through glass window, and behind it he could see the blurry figure of Dr. Basil; tinted green by the water.

Dr. Basil tapped the glass. “Coming to, are you?”

Further back in the room was another figure, but the water made his vision too blurry to tell who. Goku tried to move, or nod, but his body still felt asleep. His struggles must still have shown though, because Dr. Basil talked to him again.

“Now calm down. You’re almost healed and I’ll empty the chamber in a minute, but you’ll need to find your feet before you try to get up. ‘Be a shame to have you stumble and crack your head open again.” Doctor Basil said before pressing some buttons right beside the window.

Slowly the green water started to drain and as it became necessary for him to support his own weight, Goku leaned against the wall of the chamber. When the tank was finally empty doctor Basil reached out to steady him, leading him towards the bed to sit.

Another pair of hands appeared to help steady him, and Goku looked up to see his brother.

Goku was settled on the bed, a blanket thrown over his naked lap, while the doctor fitted about, gathering several things. Raditz stayed by his side, but didn’t speak to him.

Goku snuck another glance at his brother. He looked angry.

Only then did Goku notice his tail. It twitched in surprise just as he noticed it, and he could help but wonder if it’d just always grow back, no matter what he did.

“Here we go then, time to measure your battle power.” Doctor Basil said, pressing the button on his two glassed scouter before Goku could ask why.

The machine beeped for a final time and the doctor laughed. “Ha, I knew it. He’s gotten a zenkai boost. Doesn’t always happen, and I was unsure if it worked for male betas.” The doctor seemed pleased. “Not to mention his tail grew back. Faster than expected even.”

“What’s a zenkai boost?” Goku wondered, drawing the blanket more firmly around himself to starve off the chill from still being wet.

“A zenkai boost is something saiyans can experience when returning from the brink of death. Their body responds to the serious danger by trying to lessen the chances of it happening again, and their power level is raised several times as a result.” Doctor Basil explained. “Still, your raise is something else. You’ve gone from around 400 to a thousand! Quite the leap.”

“I’ve gotten stronger?” Goku wondered and looked down at his tail, flexing it thoughtfully. Then he frowned. “Wait, that means Vegeta almost killed me.”

“He _would_ have killed you if I hadn’t intervened.” Raditz finally spoke up, sounding angry.

Goku hunched under his brother’s cloud of anger. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have flown off like that.”

Raditz pinched his nose. “No, you shouldn’t have.” He agreed with a frown. “Still, I should have finished explaining everything to you before taking you outside. But!” He lifted a finger at Goku. “No more running off. The only thing you’ll succeed in doing is pissing off Vegeta, and that’s an unwise thing to do if you wanna live a long life.”    

Goku nodded with a pout. _He_ didn’t want to piss off Vegeta again. Frankly he’d prefer not running into him at all anymore.

“Ahem.” Doctor Basil cleared his throat. “Speaking of telling young Kakarot what he needs to know, have you informed him about being a beta?” Basil asked Raditz.

Raditz froze. “…No. It seemed like the least pressing issue at the time.”

“Well, are you going to now or…? I can leave if you two would prefer your privacy.”

Goku looked from the doctor to Raditz and back, confused. Raditz hesitated.

“I can also stay over there to the side, help you out with diagrams if you get stuck.” The doctor offered, privately wanting to witness Raditz giving the sex and reproduction talk to his younger brother, for his own amusement if nothing else.

“Err, yes. That’d be fine.” Raditz mumbled.

Goku didn’t know why his brother seemed so uncomfortable, but he was happy about not being in anymore trouble for running off right now. He had no idea what to do about his situation anyway, or how to get to back to Earth, so for now sticking with Raditz seemed like his best bet.

Raditz sat down on a chair next to Goku’s bed, almost across from him. “Firstly, tell me Kakarot. How does reproduction on Earth work?”

Goku was surprised by the question, but thought back on the time when he’d still studied under the turtle hermit with Krillin, and what the old man had had to say on the subject back then. “If a man sticks his peepee in a woman’s veevee then nine months later there’s a baby, and that’s why you need to wear a condom.” He ended with saying, just like Master Roshi had.

Raditz stared, speechless for a moment. “Right. That was… More simply put than anticipated.” He ran a hand over his face. “Among saiyans it’s a little different. We have two genders too mostly, alpha and beta, which corresponds with Earth’s men and women. You following so far?”

Goku nodded.

“Good. Now, this is where it gets a little different. We have something of a third gender too. You see, some “men” can also be betas and carry children, even though it’s rare.” Raditz paused to let Goku absorb this for a moment. “You happen to be a beta, Kakarot.”

“You mean I can have BABIES?” Goku yelled, shocked.

Raditz winced at the noise. “Yes, you can. Under the right circumstances. All saiyan betas, male and female looking alike, go into heat at some points. That’s when they want to look for a strong mate and make children.” Raditz said, feeling like he as dumbing this down as much as he could right now. He figured he could always explain in more detail later, and hopefully not overwhelm Kakarot that way.

“So among saiyans I’m like a woman?” Goku wondered, nose wrinkled in distaste. He didn’t feel like a woman.

“No.” Raditz shook his head. “You’re a beta. We call everyone able to carry children beta, and everyone able to sire them alpha. So there’s no difference made between female betas and male betas on that point, even though male betas _can_ sire children if pressed by necessity, like the lack of suitable alphas, to do so.”

Goku sighed at that. “Hmm, that’s good. ChiChi would be pretty angry otherwise, and I’m not sure I’d wanna be pregnant.”

“Who’s ChiChi?” Raditz asked.

“Hmm? Oh, she’s my fiancée, I guess. She’s angry a lot of the time, but she’s pretty strong too.” Goku explained.

Raditz cast a glance at Dr. Basil. “Fiancée?” He wondered.

Basil looked through his computer. “According to the information the drones brought back, it’s the forestage to marriage, which is like being mates, and among humans are meant to last for life, but only does so about half the time.”

“Hmm, so mostly like us then.” Raditz said, then explained to Goku “Some mates stay together for life, some only find someone when they want to breed and leave after they have raised the children to independence.” He hesitated then. “This ChiChi person… You should probably give up on trying to mate her.”

Goku frowned at that. “Why? I promised her I would, even if it’s bothersome.”

Raditz thought that sounded like a weird reason, but decided to let it lie for now. “Because from now on you’ll be surrounded by several strong saiyan alphas, and once you go into heat, your body will automatically stir you towards them. Probably towards someone specific, which will be whoever you’ve observed to be a worthy mate.”

 Not to mention the other alphas would probably try to pursue Kakarot and prove their worth to him, but that was a whole other headache.

Goku rubbed the blanket between his fingers, wondering what he should do. He didn’t want to have a saiyan alpha mate, but if marrying ChiChi wouldn’t work out anyway, he wondered if she’d forgive him if he said sorry. He hadn’t known about being a beta saiyan when he’d promised after all.

“Can I just not mate?” Goku wondered aloud.

Raditz hesitated. “Technically, yes. Most would expect you to, and your own nature will try to take you in that direction, but if you really don’t want to, then that’s up to you.”

“Phew, that’s a relief.” Goku said, leaning backwards. “I’m not even sure how a baby would get out of me. Or inside in the first place.”

Raditz went pale and turned pleading eyes towards Dr. Basil who was trying to smother his laughter in the corner.  

“Oh fine,” The doctor chuckled. “Run off and find your brother some food and clothes. I’ll explain the mechanics to him.”

Raditz didn’t have to be told twice, and was out the door faster than light, Goku staring after him with sudden trepidation.

“Now then.” Doctor Basil said, cracking his knuckled. “Let’s bring out the diagrams.”

 

xXx

 

Goku was pale. He _felt_ pale. “So it’ll come out my…”

“Anus, yes. It can stretch a lot more than you’d think, luckily.”

“And when it goes in..?”

Doctor Basil pointed at the diagram. “Think of it like your throat. It’s mainly one pipe, but one opening lets air in and out, and one is only for food and drink. Same with your rectum really; One part closes off when you’re making or giving birth to babies, and that part again closes off when you have to expel. Same way your body tries to make sure food doesn’t go into your lungs.”

Goku shuddered. “I’m never making babies. Not even if I get wet and it’s supposed to feel good. Not worth it, nuh—uh.” He shook his head back and forth.

Dr. Basil chuckled. “I’m sure you’d be more horrified to learn about other species’ reproductive methods. Based on your start point of view, many of them seem particularly strange or disgusting. And there are as many methods as there are planets in the universe.”

Goku kicked his legs and pouted, by now he was dressed in loose sleeping clothes seeing as it was nighttime soon anyway. “I just didn’t think having the baby would be my problem.” He grumbled.

“Quite a disappointment, I’m sure.” Basil laughed. He went to Goku’s side to help him put on electrodes and started hooking them up to the machine so Goku could be allowed to sleep afterwards. “These machines will measure your hormones and brainwaves as you sleep Kakarot. It’s good that your tail has already regrown, but I’d still like to be sure that nothing is suddenly escalating with its reappearance.”

Goku laid back and closed his eyes, tired despite technically spending a lot of time sleeping or unconscious lately. It’d been over a week since he’d been taken from Earth, but less than a day since he’d woken up here; on a strange planet surrounded by aliens.

Doctor Basil used his own brown tail to snag Goku’s blanket and pull it over him. “I’ll see you tomorrow Kakarot. Try not to worry too much.” He said, then left and closed the door behind him.

Goku didn’t hear him though. Exhaustion had put him asleep before the electric door even snicked closed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember: this is before the five year time skip. Goku have only just made it past his last battle against Piccolo and he's still a teenager, while Vegeta has been kicking butts in space and almost dying several times for years. So Goku isn’t weak, Vegeta is just way waaay stronger at this point and can easily curb stomp him without breaking a sweat.


	5. Bonding in the good old fashioned saiyan way.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Oh, wait, I'm the one hitting you. My bad.  
> Aka: Sibling bonding, yaaaaay.

 

The base, or checkpoint 8 as it was called, seemed massive. Not as big as the Red Ribbon army’s main base had been, but despite the darker colors and all the silver like metal, Goku was still reminded of that.

He’d been instructed to stay close to Raditz, not to run off again, not to attack anyone, and to not talk to people with a higher rank than him; which was basically everyone. His painful beat-down by prince Vegeta still fresh in mind, Goku hadn’t complained so far.  

“This is the training area.” Raditz told him as he waved open a door for them. “It’s not very full right now, because most people are trying to gather provisions out on the planet. We buy most of what we use, but there’s nothing wrong with saving where you can.”

Goku looked around at the big room they’d entered. The ceiling was high up, and training equipment littered the first part of the floor, before giving away to a large bare area.

“That’s for sparing,” Raditz explained when he saw where Goku was looking. “Though if you wanna go really rough, you do it outside. You have to scan the area out to the third planet in the system first though, if your battle power go over a thousand.” He added.

“Why do you have to do that?”

Raditz scratched his hair with a frown. “Frieza and his people have scouters too, and sometimes they do deep scans of planets, both to categorize them and search for us. So we can’t be careless or they might pick up on us.”

Goku poked at a piece of unfamiliar equipment with a frown. “That sounds bothersome.” He mentioned, mostly to say something. He’d gotten some more background on Frieza and his apparent fear/distaste towards the saiyans from his brother and doctor Basil after he woke up. Goku had thought that the super saiyan legend sounded interesting, but he’d been bummed to hear that the saiyans used to _work_ for Frieza, even if Raditz promised him they’d turned over a new leaf.

“But doesn’t that mean it’d have been alright to leave me on Earth?” Goku asked, thinking of the reasoning Raditz had given for finding him. He’d said if Frieza found him he would have come calling, and of course destroyed humanity in the process.

Raditz paused briefly in his walk towards the sparring area. “Technically yes… But we need all the saiyan warriors we can get to fight Frieza, and even then there’s no guarantee your luck would have kept if you’d gotten any stronger.” He said before starting to pull off his armor.

He motioned for Goku to do the same, and Goku was only too happy to comply. The armor he wore now, after his gi had been shredded in his fight with Vegeta, was body fitting and stretched, but he still didn’t like the sensation of it, even if he thought the red was a nice color.

“When he failed in blowing up planet Vegeta, Frieza wasted no time in hunting down every saiyan off planet he could find.” Raditz continued. He placed the last part of his armor to the side and sighed. “Frieza killed children and half-breeds too if he found them. Of all those people, we only managed to save about half.”

He pointed for Goku to enter the ring, and Goku did so, mood subdued. He was starting to get why Frieza as such a big problem, but he still had no idea what the saiyans and other aliens were doing to fight against him. When he’d asked Raditz, his brother had brushed him off, telling him he could only be told so once he was no longer a risk to them. Goku surmised that they didn’t trust him yet; not that he had given them a reason to.

Raditz pressed a button on a small podium console to the side, and a shimmering shield appeared to raise itself around the area, finishing as Raditz entered the ring too, stretching his arms and shoulders before he came to stand in front of Goku. “Let’s see what you’re made of little brother. Don’t hold back. With your power level, the shield should be able to take everything you throw at it.”

Goku glanced at the shimmering blue energy shield. “It won’t trap us in here like the one on the planet did, right?”

“No. This is new technology. Dad had a hand in it, actually. It just bounces whatever you throw at it back, within reason of course.” Raditz figured that someone around Vegeta’s strength or maybe higher could probably break it, were they of a mind to do so.

Feeling curious; Goku threw a small ki blast at it, just for it to be thrown off and rebounded around the room like a vicious rubber ball, until Raditz caught and extinguished it with one hand.

Raditz smirked. “As you can see you should really aim for hitting your opponent. Otherwise, it’ll be bad for you too.”

Goku could easily imagine, but he thought the effect could be utilized for good solo training too. “Noted.” He just said.

“Good, let’s start then.” Raditz said, and before Goku could ask if they were counting to three or something else, Raditz was already on him.

Unlike with Vegeta, Goku could see Raditz’ movements, but that didn’t mean he could dodge them all. There was no denying that his older brother was faster than him, and Goku couldn’t remember having been this easily pressed back since he’d just started training with mister Popo and Kami.

Raditz didn’t let up on him, and he didn’t leave any openings, so Goku was forced to try and make distance between them before he could go in for an attack, which was easier said than done.

Realizing quickly that he couldn’t match his brother in hand to hand, Goku charged and shot an instant energy blast at him, taking a punch as payment for using his one hand and arm for something else than blocking, but managing to get some distance between them.

Raditz wasn’t winded by the blast, which after all had served more as distraction than damage, but Goku was quick to shoot several higher powered shots at him in rapid succession, hoping to win enough time at some point for a proper kamehameha.

Raditz withstood the barrage, though he had to admit they hurt more than he’d expected. He might actually have to dodge if Kakarot got serious and fired with his full power.

Seeing as his little brother wasn’t letting him get close, Raditz shot off his own energy blast; one more charged than Kakarot’s.

Goku realized that taking the red energy coming towards him head on would be a bad idea and was quick to dodge, hoping to use the rebound to his advantage if only he could get Raditz in the way of its trajectory.

Unnoticed by the brothers, the training hall had started filling up with other people, most having come to train themselves after breakfast, but quickly noticing the ongoing sparring session and finding it more interesting. Some were still wearing scouters, and as such they soon noticed the weirdness of the fight. Raditz’ little brother’s battle power reading didn’t seem to settle on one specific number, rising and falling with every attack, and bewildered muttering quickly spread among the ranks, causing them to watch the fighters with even keener eyes. 

Goku for one simply didn’t have the time to notice the spectators with his brother giving him no room to breathe. One of Raditz’ power blasts had managed to singe his underarm and side, but after the fifth or so blast Raditz threw at him, Goku managed to bounce it back by building up higher ki in his hands.

The return of his own attack surprised Raditz enough to give Goku the chance to mostly charge and fire a full Kamehameha, even if he kept quiet, not wanting to alert his opponent a moment too soon. Goku held the Kamehameha back, firing first another smaller ki blast, which Raditz as expected took head on, before almost instantly following it up with the Kamehameha.

Goku’s strategy paid off; with Raditz not dodging the second shot, expecting it to be like the first. The moment it hit him though the difference was felt. It threw him back and smacked him into the power shield, the hit hard enough to have him slump down as soon as the energy dissipated.

“That shot was over 1400!” Someone yelled from the audience.

Raditz thought it had certainly _felt_ like that much. “Not bad, brother.” He said with a slightly strained voice, getting to his feet with a grunt.

“Sorry, sorry, are you ok?” Goku asked, scratching his hair with one hand and holding the other out towards his brother.

Raditz spit a bit of blood from where he bit his tongue off to the side, then smirked. “Never been better. Looks like I don’t have to hold back on you.” He said, kicking off with a blast and appearing in front of Goku’s face in the blink of an eye.

He proceeded to lay into his little brother, who gave back good, but Raditz still had the upper hand.

This time it was Goku’s back who met with the power shield, hard. He took a moment to get air back into his lungs and get up.

Raditz cracked his neck and rotated his shoulder. “I can definitely tell you’ve got fighting experience, but your power is still below mine, so if you don’t start giving it your all, you’ll end up on the ground. Or in it, if this was a real fight.” He cautioned.

Goku wiped his mouth and split lip but smiled. His one eye had started swelling shut, and several other injuries were really beginning to make themselves known, even if Raditz had at no point aimed to kill. “If I went any harder, it’d mean trying to kill you.” Goku informed him.

Raditz snorted. “That’s what I’m telling you to do. I don’t know what kinda fights you’ve been in so far, but here we’re all soldiers. We aim to kill, and our enemy does the same.”

“You haven’t been trying to kill me, I can tell.” Goku defended.

Raditz snorted. “Well, no. I actually like you. But that doesn’t mean I won’t beat you to the brink of death.”

“To the brink of death, eh?” Goku asked, readying himself to reengage.

“You’ll still loose.” Raditz taunted, then threw himself back into the fight.

They clashed: hits, kicks and energy blasts being exchanged faster than some of the audience could follow, but causing all those who could to cheer. It was rare to see saiyans bother to go all out against each other in training; the battle hungry race preferring to face actual enemies and better themselves through fights to the death.

In the end, Raditz was proven right. Goku ended up underneath him, a palm full of charged power blast inches from his face. Raditz squeezed his brother’s throat with his other hand, ready to threaten him into giving up, but to his surprise Kakarot went lax and held up his hands, palms up beside his head, before he could.

Raditz hesitated, but when Kakarot didn’t move he dissolved the power shot in his hand, released Kakarot’s throat and stepped back.

Goku struggled to sit up, wincing and rubbing his throat. “You weren’t kidding. Guess I lose this round.” He said easily, while Raditz boggled at his complete lack of pride. Most saiyans wouldn’t take a loss so graciously.      

Someone among their audience was nice enough to cancel the shield before Raditz could order it to do so.

“Well done newcomer!” An audience member yelled.

Raditz shook himself as he watched someone else, another saiyan, walk over and offer his brother a hand up which Goku took.

“You’re not too shabby; at this rate you might actually make it to the C-team instead of one of the lower ones. Should have expected it from a fellow saiyan.” The man praised as he pulled Goku to his feet.

“Uh, thanks I guess?” Goku responded, taking in the other saiyan. He still hadn’t had the time to study the other saiyans around the base aside from his brother and Dr. Basil in detail, and he found it fascinating how he could see their resemblance between each other and even himself. Goku had always thought he looked just like any other human aside from his tail, but here, among his own race, he could see how their features repeated, how they were all subtly different compared to humans. It wasn’t something you’d notice looking at just one saiyan, but among a whole pack of them…

“Hey, what’s that smell?” The man asked, still not having let go of Goku’s hand, nose twitching.

“Smell? Oh, well I did just work up a sweat, sorry if—“

“—No. It’s different. Smells sweet.” The man said, subtly pulling Goku closer, bending towards his neck…

He was wrenched away by a growling Raditz before he could get any closer. “Stay away from him.” Raditz snarled, pushing Kakarot behind himself, hackles raised.

The other saiyan looked pissed, but once he took in Raditz guarding his younger brother he held up his hands in a calming gesture. “Now now, were all comrades here. I just wondered why the kid smelled so sweet, like a beta almost.” He smarmed.

When Raditz just growled instead of answering, thrown by someone pointing it out so soon, the man’s face cleared up.

“Oh. He _is_ one. Isn’t he? A male beta… That’s—“

“Don’t.” Raditz growled, taking a threatening step forward. “—Even think about it.” He finished, casting a menacing glare around the rest of the room too, just to be sure.

Behind him Goku tried to peek past his shoulders, wondering what all the fuss was about. He was pretty sure he’d spotted at least a couple of saiyan women around, or betas as they called them, so he couldn’t see the big deal about him being one too.

Raditz didn’t like the looks spreading across the gathered alphas faces. A male beta was a rare find, promising more and stronger heats as well as stronger offspring. They rarely went unmated for long, and whichever alpha was lucky enough to snag them was fiercely defensive of his prize.

“Hey,” The other man, named Chive or something stupid like that Raditz thought, called out, eyes fixed on Kakarot. “You don’t have to hide behind your big brother. Why don’t you let me help you to a healing tank, and then afterwards you and I can have a spar?” Chive suggested with a leer.

Raditz got into a position to attack. “Don’t you dare proposition my brother right in front of me you bastard. Never do it at all!” He snarled. “If I catch anyone of you miserable sacks sniffing around him I’ll fucking kill you.” He promised, fully intending to make good on it. 

At his brother’s threats Goku cast a wide-eyed glance at the other saiyan, an alpha, and then at all the other alphas gathered around the room. He recognized the look on their faces, and wondered if this was what Bulma had felt like at times. If so, Goku could understand why she got so angry sometimes. They were eying him like a piece of delicious steak.

Not wanting to deal with the uncomfortable stares any longer, and still smarting all over from their spar, Goku pulled at his older brother’s shirt. “Hey, can we leave?” He asked. He didn’t want it to seem like he was running away, even though he was. “My eye kinda hurts.” He excused.

Raditz seemed to snap out of the stare down he’d been having with the other alphas, daring them to try something. “Yea, of course. You’re supposed to stick to me, so I’ll come with you.” He said the last part loudly, then grabbed Goku by his arm, and even though he tried to be mindful of his injuries, still almost dragged him out from the room with his speed, Goku stumbling to keep up.

Once they were in the hallway and moving towards the med-bay, Raditz turned his head to look at his little brother. “Don’t spar or fight with anyone else unless I tell you that you can, at least not with any saiyan alpha.”

“I can take them.” Goku argued.

Raditz chuckled darkly. “No, you really can’t, and that’s not what I’m concerned about anyway.” He ended ambiguously just as they came up to the med-bay door.

Raditz wasted no time wrestling his little brother into one of the healing tanks, made easier by Kakarot no longer wearing the armor and instead just the red underclothes. Raditz divested him of the latter too, letting him keep only his underwear, before closing him into the tank. He made sure to wait for Dr. Basil to enter the room, and made him promise not to leave, before getting in a tank himself.

Raditz’ life as an “attentive and concerned” big brother had just gotten a whole lot more troublesome. Not that he’d let any of those dipshits get together with Kakarot anyway. It was a matter of principle.

Nothing else.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sure Raditz, sure that’s all it is. Also you’ve gotten a rash from those feelings. Better put some ointment on that. 
> 
> Yes, all self-invented saiyans are given vegetable names. Kudos to you if you can figure out what they’re based on. I'll probably forget.


	6. Snow date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Field trip. Pack your lunches. And your scouters.

 

Goku was starting to get used to that drowsy effect he got from being in the healing tanks, and this time when the water started draining, he found it easier to keep his balance.

Raditz was already healed and re-dressed once Goku crawled out of the tank, but he was also still wearing a frown on his face.

Goku blinked at him groggily before starting to pull on his own clothes and armor. The clothes underneath were red and the over parts, the actual armor, was black or brown (he’d seen both) with gold, though Goku thought it was probably a stronger metal which just looked like it. Or maybe not metal at all, considering how the armor felt.      

He heard and felt his stomach rumble, always empty after a good fight, and wondered if it was still too early to eat dinner. When he asked Raditz about it the older saiyan shook his head.

“There was a call while you were still in the tank. C-team is to gather in assembly room 6, which means I have to go, and that you’re going too as an extension.” He looked at his small wrist pad. “And we’re already close to running late, so finish up quickly.” Raditz told him, as Goku then hurried to drag on the metallic wrist guards.

Even though they hurried they were still the last to enter the assembly room from the looks of it. Ten other people were already standing in a semi-circle, all but two of them saiyan from what Goku could tell. And that’s when Goku spotted him.

Standing on a podium raised slightly above the rest, with a giant bald guy next to him, stood Vegeta.

Goku tensed, he couldn’t help it, and only the grip Raditz had on him to get him fully in the door kept him moving.

“Apologies for being late, we were in the tanks.” Raditz excused.

“Never mind that. Why’s _he_ here?” A slender long haired woman asked, pointing a derisive finger at Goku.

“He’s sticking with me right now.” Raditz said, leaving it at that.

Goku spotted some fruit in a bowl by the wall and quickly snagged some, before being pulled back by the scruff by his brother and receiving a stern glare telling him to behave. Goku took a happy bite of his prize, feeling no remorse, but he did allow himself to be dragged slightly behind Raditz, still keeping a watchful eye on Vegeta, even as he ate.

To his surprise and mild horror Vegeta was watching him back. Goku’s first notion was to hide behind Raditz completely, but he easily shook it off, not wanting to be cowed, and instead he glared back with all the heat he could muster.

Raditz noticed his brother’s and prince Vegeta’s angry eye-lock, and looking around the others seemed to too. He gulped and tried to get Kakarot to stand fully behind him, or at least look down, but of course the stubborn idiot wouldn’t budge.

From the front of the room Vegeta growled. “He shouldn’t overhear this.” He said, in clear reference to Kakarot.

“I can make him wait outside?” Raditz suggested, wanting to cringe at how that made his brother sound like a pet.

Vegeta looked like he was considering it, but ended up shaking his head. “Never mind. He can stay if you’re sure he’s in control and won’t try to run off and offer himself to Frieza first chance he gets.”

“I’d never do that!” Kakarot protested, mouth still half full.

“Not _deliberately_ perhaps.” Vegeta mocked, before looking and raising a questioning eyebrow at Raditz.

“He’s fine.” Raditz assured, feeling about 75 percent sure that was the truth. “He wouldn’t just run off and leave his big brother like that.” He joked, ruffling Kakarot’s hair in a way he hoped came off as endearing. Judging by Kakarot’s surprised smile it seemed to.

Vegeta rolled his eyes condescendingly, but then turned his attention to the rest of the room, ready to get on with business.

“We’ve been contacted by the population on planet A513 local name…” He glanced at Nappa.

“Gultark.” Nappa provided.

Vegeta made a face at the name but then continued. “We’ve been requested to aid against possible hostile takeover.” He said, leading to small gasps around the room.

“Is it Frieza?” A man asked.

“If it was Frieza himself, we wouldn’t be considering it. But there is a good chance it’s his forces.” Vegeta said, then turned around to face the wall, pressed his scouter to turn the wall into a screen and brought up a file with a picture of the planet and a long list of its properties and resources.

“The Gultarks discovered their planet had been put on the market, much to their horror as you can imagine, but they haven’t actually been conquered yet.” He explained as he shifted to the next page on the screen. “They’re not a technologically unintelligent species, but the vast majority enjoy simple living, very simple, and they have no monetary system. Luckily their planet is rich and they’ll pay us a handsome prize in resources to help them, much more handsome than they probably realize.”

Vegeta changed the page again; this time to a galactic map. “Our latest information says Frieza is here.” He pointed a finger to a position which lay far away from them. “It appears a couple of Turles’ misfits managed to draw his attention.” He turned to face the room again.

“That’s why I’ve accepted the job. We’ll help the Gultarks keep their planet for now, take their shit and hopefully manage to get some info on Frieza’s forces from his men’s ship. Meanwhile Frieza and the Ginyu force are too far away to make it there in time to stop us.”

The prince turned off the screen and pointed at the slender woman who had spoken before. “Cucuba will lead the team fighting against Frieza’s men, Raditz and Chezyk are on standby while they deal with communication and information relay, and our _newest member_ —“ Vegeta said, turning cold eyes on Goku. “—he’s with me.”

Raditz stiffened, as did almost everyone in the room at the unexpected news.

Goku stared at Vegeta, wondering what the saiyan prince wanted with him, having seemed pretty eager to kill him just yesterday.

Raditz took a step forward, hand up “Vegeta, I’m not sure that—“

“Shut up Raditz and do as you’re told. You should feel honored that your little brother is joining an actual mission so soon, or do you perhaps wanna cuddle him in basic training for a while, hmm?” Vegeta mocked at the last part.

Raditz would actually have preferred that, yes, but he was vise enough not to say it. He didn’t see how Kakarot going off with Vegeta could end in anything but disaster though, not with Kakarot having absolutely no respect or deference to the prince and Vegeta having a fuse shorter than a finger nail; but there was nothing he could do. Nothing except warn his brother not to agitate the prince, even though that was a difficult job even for a normal person on a normal day.     

 Vegeta took Raditz’ silence for the compliance it was. “We leave in thirty minutes. Be at the dock by then, we’re taking ship one.”

Some people muttered at the ship choice, but everyone quickly cleared out. Raditz grabbed Goku by the neckline and dragged him out hurriedly too, unwilling to leave him alone with Vegeta a moment before it was necessary.

Goku let himself be dragged along, but managed to snag another piece of fruit with his regrown tail before he was pulled away. He munched on the banana like thing as he followed Raditz towards a part of the base he hadn’t been to before.

Raditz stopped at an innocuous looking door in a long narrow hallway with many similar doors, but stopped Goku before he could try to reach out and open it. “The gravity is different in there, ten times higher than you’re used to in fact.”

“Why?”

“It’s the same on planet Vegeta, so most saiyans keep it like that in their private quarters. We don’t use it everywhere on base because we have other species here too.” Raditz explained. He reached out and activated a screen beside the door, quickly tapping out his code and entering the changes to the gravity.

“Awww, but I wanted to try’an feel it!” Goku complained when he realized what his brother was doing.

“You can play with it later. For now you need to put on a scouter and learn how to use it. I don’t have time to teach you the symbols we use, but it’ll make us able to communicate.” Raditz said as he walked inside and went through his things, coming up with an extra scouter for Goku.

He put it on his little brother’s face and fiddled with it until the green glass lit up. “Okay. Now remember what I tell you. Press this button to turn coms on, press it twice to turn it off. That’s all you need right now, and I should be able to turn off…. Ah, yes. There.” He said, dusting off his hands and standing back, Goku’s scouter no longer set to displaying anything aside from alerting to potential threats.

“Need anything else before we go?” He inquired, to which Goku obviously replied “Food.”

Raditz rolled his eyes. “We can grab something from the mess on the way.”

As they walked towards the mess hall, Raditz turned to watch his brother again. “Remember,” He cautioned. “Try not to piss Vegeta off; do as he says and try not to talk to him otherwise, unless it’s crucial. I’m not sure what his deal is with you, but it seems worse than usual, so don’t provoke him.”

“What if he provokes me?” Goku countered stubbornly.

Raditz smacked him over the head. “Then you ignore him. _Don’t_ engage him. I’m serious Kakarot, I’m not sure what he wants with you, but I’d prefer you survived it.”     

“He he.” Goku grinned, promising nothing.

Raditz sighed and wondered how angry his parents would get if Kakarot died before they could even greet him. Maybe they wouldn’t need to know. Yea, better to not tell them.

He had a bad feeling about this mission.

xXx

Ship One was HUGE. At least that was Goku’s first impression. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected from a spaceship, but judging from the things in the hanger and on the docks, they came in all sizes. Even really tiny ones which looked like they only fit one person.

Subconsciously he’d probably imagined something airplane sized, but ship One was at least twice that, if not three times as big.

Everyone sat down in rows much like on an airplane though. Luckily they had more leg room and a screen instead of cramped leg space, but Goku still couldn’t read any of the symbols of the screen, and his brother wasn’t sitting next to him so he could ask.

He didn’t have the time during takeoff anyway; the ship shaking like an Earthquake as it broke through the atmosphere.

The shaking finally stopped as they entered empty space, and Goku breathed a sigh of relief. More of that and he’d have needed a bucket.

“Hi.” A light voice said to his side.

Goku turned his head and blinked at the slight and shorthaired girl who’d spoken. She was the only other person sat in the very back together with Goku.

“Hey.” Goku greeted back. “Who’re you? You weren’t at the briefing.”

The girl tittered. “Of course not. I’m a medic, mostly. At least when it comes to the C team and up. I only just made it into D team recently—Ah, I’m forgetting myself. My name is Dilla, I already know you’re Raditz’ brother. Kakarot, right?”

“I prefer Goku actually, but Raditz keeps going on about _taking pride in my saiyan name._ ” He imitated his brother at the last part.

Dilla tittered again, and Goku watched in surprise as a light brown tail came up to curl easily over her lap.

“Hey, you’re a saiyan too!” Goku exclaimed, fairly surprised. Dilla seemed sweet and relaxed, unlike all the other saiyans, who usually looked nothing but a weak excuse away from starting a fight. Only doctor Basil had seemed calm, but according to Basil himself he was only half saiyan, even if he could pass for full. Goku was about to ask if it was the same for Dilla, but figured out that it might sound rude before he spoke for once.

Dilla took notice never the less.

“You’re not the first person to react like that. Just because I don’t go around in a constant cloud of bloodlust doesn’t mean I can’t throw a punch, you know?” She mimed hitting someone, adding on a little sound effect. “I just think all that bluster and chest puffing is exhausting is all.”

Goku tilted his head, thinking of the chest puffing he saw going on between saiyan alphas in particular. Even his own brother did it. “I get what you mean. I’d find that annoying to have to do too.”

“Right?!” Dilla exclaimed, smiling at someone agreeing with her on the upsides to a more relaxed lifestyle.

Goku nodded, then thought back on what else she’d mentioned. “You said you’re actually on D team? How come you’re here then? Aren’t everyone here on C team?” He wondered.

Dilla frowned, but still looked vaguely amused. “Guess you still have a lot of questions huh? Well, you’ve come to the right person.” She smacked her chest. “Allow me to explain: Prince Vegeta and Nappa are actually on A team, but it’s not unusual for a team commander like Vegeta to choose people from other teams depending on the mission. So this time he brought the entire C team, me from D team because no one on C really have medical expertise, and you, well…” She frowned when she mentioned Goku. “Actually, I wondered about that. Why are you here? I mean, you and I have almost the same battle power, so I doubt you were brought to fight… Are you a medic too?” She asked.

Goku held up his hands. “No way! I could barely work the showers here the one time I tried, never mind all the machines I saw Dr. Basil use.” He scratched his hair. “I’m not actually sure _why_ I was brought along. I kinda hope it’s to fight, but with you saying all that…”

“Speaking of fighting; I heard you fought the prince!” Dilla exclaimed, changing the subject out of curiosity. Everyone had wondered about that; prince Vegeta going off to discipline a newcomer on his own.

Goku scowled. “I actually did that twice. It didn’t go well. First time I got kidnapped and second time I still couldn’t even land one hit on him.”

Dilla chuckled nervously. “Well yea… He’s the prince you know? It’s what you’d expect.”

Goku sat back, looking upwards with a sigh. “I dunno. I’ve fought some pretty strong guys in my time, and they all started out stronger than me.” He flexed his hand in front of his face, visualizing hitting Vegeta with it. “Right now I’m really frustrated that I lost, but at the same time I’m also excited.” He smiled, looking over at Dilla.

“On Earth I was pretty much the strongest person around,” Aside from Piccolo, who he’d let go in the hopes of fighting him again, “but it turns out there are _so many_ guys way stronger than me out here, stronger than Vegeta even!”

“Don’t let the prince catch you saying that.” Dilla said nervously, eyes flickering to the people in front of them, wondering if they were listening in.

Goku continued. “It means I can get even stronger too!” He smiled, then noticed Dilla’s expression. “He he, sorry about getting carried away. It’s just really exciting is all. At first I really just wanted to go back to Earth, but now I kinda wanna stay here and get stronger. If nothing else I at least wanna win a fight over Vegeta before I go back.”

Dilla paled and flapped her hands to get him to stop. “Don’t just _say that!_ ” She hissed. “If the prince hears another alpha just casually mention defeating him, he’ll definitely kill you.”

Goku blinked. “I’m not an alpha though.”

“You’re—Wha?” Dilla gaped at him. She blinked, shook her head, then “But that means you’re a beta?” She looked him up and down. “Huh. I’ve never met a male beta before.”

She smiled slyly then. “Aiming pretty high there newcomer; hoping to bag the prince.”

Goku looked at her in confusion. “Wait, you’re not mad anymore? Does that mean it’s okay to wanna fight Vegeta because I’m a beta? That’s confusing.” He complained.

“Aww, come on. Don’t play innocent with me.” She smacked his arm. “It’s not like you’re the _only_ beta after him. Cucuba who’s the C team leader is too, even if she’s just uselessly trying to seduce him for status.” Dilla snorted. “I say no way that’s happening. Vegeta isn’t gonna be interested in anyone who can’t even go toe to toe with him.” She leaned back with a sigh. “ _I_ don’t mind, but some of the other betas are totally down about it.”

Goku was confused. “Why don’t they just train then? If they wanna fight him and win.” He thought it was weird that alphas weren’t allowed to want to fight with Vegeta, but apparently for the betas it was all right?

Dilla laughed. “I know right? Lazy fucks. They only have themselves to blame.”

Goku sat in silence for a while, mulling it over. “I don’t get why it’s only okay to wanna fight him because I’m a beta. I thought all saiyans wanted to fight strong guys? That’s what Raditz said anyway.” His brother was pretty much constantly in lecture mode, even while eating, and most went through one ear and out the other but some things Goku took note of.

Dilla tilted her head at him while pursing her lips. “I guess you don’t get what a fight between an alpha and a beta usually means.”

“What?” Goku asked.

“It’s flirting, _flirting._ ” She wagged a finger at him. “It’s how you check if someone’s worthy of being your mate. Of course it’s important to learn how they fight. Plus, when you go into heat you really need someone strong who’s able to stop you, you know? Total mayhem otherwise. So a weak mate is no good.”

Goku knit his brows at that. “I actually haven’t really been told much about going into heat…” He shook his head. “Anyway, it’s not like that! I just wanna fight him, no other reason than that. I mean i-is _all_ fights between a beta and someone else thought of like that?” Goku asked, hoping for a no.

Dilla tilted her head in thought. “Well, not if you specifically state otherwise… And if it’s with an enemy, a family member or another beta then… Or if you and your opponent are _really_ trying to kill each other, no joke, then of course not.” She said, ticking the exceptions off on her hand.

“Phew. That’s a relief.” Goku said, sinking back with a sigh. “Vegeta almost killed me last time, so no worries there, and when I fight him I just have to state my intentions. No problem.” He said, feeling happy with the solution.

Dilla hummed noncommittedly, seeming less sure, but Goku ignored her. After a while they both got bored and Dilla ended up starting Goku up on learning saiyan writing, sticking their heads together and showing him on his screen. They passed time like that until it was almost time to land, and Goku figured that after this mission, he’d probably have another friend on the base.

xXx

Gultark turned out to be _cold._ Goku felt his teeth clatter and hugged himself as he and the team disembarked. Once they were standing in the snow, Raditz was quick to make it to his little brother’s side again. Dilla had placed herself next to Goku too.

“Who’s this?” Raditz asked Goku, noticing Dilla’s closeness to him.

“T-t-this is D-Dilla. “ Goku clattered, gesturing to her. “T-this is my b-brother Raditz.” He told Dilla.

Dilla nodded at Raditz, they’d seen each other before of course but had never had reason to talk. “Nice to meet you.” She said, then turned back to Goku. “I guess this is where we part ways for now. I’m staying on the ship to help any wounded who might come back. Good luck and try not to freeze your tail off!” She encouraged, then ran back to the ship and out of the cold.

Goku and Raditz watched her go, then Raditz sighed. He loosened the fur cape he’d put on and draped it around Goku’s shoulders instead. “I hate to say it but I’m staying here as well. For now at least, seeing as I’m on communication this time. I probably won’t see you until you come back, unless things turn south.” He said as he fastened the cape. He stood back. “Remember what I told you; do as Vegeta says without speaking back, and be careful. Seeing as C team was brought to fight these enemies I’m not sure they’re ones you can defeat.” He cautioned, crossing his arms to starve off the chill. At least he was more used to controlling his temperature than Kakarot seemed to be.

Goku pulled his brother’s cape more firmly around himself. “I know.” He sniffled, already feeling his nose running.

Raditz messed up his brother’s hair with a half-smile before going back to the ship too. Goku watched him go, but then trudged over to where the rest of the C team, the big bald guy named Nappa and Vegeta stood.

It seemed like Vegeta had just finished giving orders, as most of the C team blasted off just as Goku appeared. Only Nappa, Vegeta and Goku remained.

“Ah, there he is. Bardock’s beta offspring.” Nappa called out, running his eyes over Goku. “I guess you do look like him. Lucky for you you’re still prettier, eh?”

Goku wasn’t sure how to respond to that, having never been called pretty before and not really caring for the experience. He looked at Vegeta instead, hoping to finally be told why he was brought along in the first place.

“Save it Nappa.” Vegeta said, then spoke to both of them. “The others are in position. We’re going to meet with the elder first. Follow me.” He explained shortly before taking to the sky.

Nappa followed along easily, but Goku struggled a bit with the speed for the first couple of minutes, before getting used to it and managing to fly beside the others.

Vegeta seemed to follow his scouter, leading them towards the root of two tall mountains covered in white clad forest.

The snow creaked under their feet when they landed, and Goku thought the air smelled like pine, even though he doubted the trees on this planet had anything to do with those on Earth. In the cliff-side, cut into the very mountain, were several doors and windows shining with a soft golden light, a façade to the homes within. Soon after they touched down a little grey skinned creature appeared, wearing brown and grey clothes and what looked like a bright red Phrygian cap.

“I, Mbellemtruk, welcome you, saiyans. May your presence here prove to be fortuitous.” He greeted.

“Can we call you Truk?” Goku asked, boggling at the little alien’s name and failing to notice Vegeta’s death glare.

Mbellemtruk blinked up at Goku, little black eyes twinkling in a wrinkled and bearded face. “You are a young one, hmm. And a kind heart. Very well, I will treasure this name you have bestowed on me and ask for yours?”

“It’s Goku. My parents named me Kakarot though, so my brother and the other saiyans call me that.”

The little man bowed. “Two names you give me. Honorable. I shall call you Goku if it pleases you.”

“Yea, thanks Truk!”

“By the gods…” Vegeta groaned. “Just get us out of this snow and show us the goods.” He demanded, casting a menacing glare at Goku.

Truk sniffed. “You have offered no name, yet I know it, prince Vegeta.” He turned around. “Follow me to what you seek.”

Truk lead them through a tall and vast hall inside the mountain, lit up by torches and filled up with what looked like a market place. Sweet things and meat were roasting, and Goku wished they could stop to sample some of it, but he remembered Raditz’ words not to bother Vegeta, and the other saiyan seemed set on having this visit done with.

Their destination proved to be another large room, this one full of what looked like nothing but different kinds of colored rocks to Goku, but Vegeta bent down, picked one up and seemed pleased.

“This’ll do. I expect there to be the quantity we agreed on. Nappa!” He waved the taller saiyan over. “Find some way to get this back on the ship or have the gultarks help you.” He stood back up and looked at the elder.

“We’ll save you this time, but don’t expect us to work for free just because more trouble finds you afterwards.” Vegeta told the old man.

Mbellemtruk closed his eyes and lowered his head. “The weight of a people on you young prince. You do not wish for one more.” With that he motioned for Nappa to follow, leading him over to a younger looking gultark, probably to arrange transportation.

Vegeta whirled on Goku. “Don’t speak before me without permission again you simpleton or I will bring you back to your brother in pieces.”

Goku took a surprised step back. “What do you mean?” He asked, unsure what he’d done wrong.

“Outside. With the elder.” He snarled. “Gods, you’re as empty headed as a hembelin.”

“I don’t know what that is.” Goku said.

“It means you’re an _idiot._ ”

Goku clenched his fists, blood surging. He wanted to argue that it wasn’t like he knew their customs or had been raised in space amongst them, so obviously there were things he wouldn’t know, but he bit his lip and kept quiet, remembering his brother’s words and knowing he’d gain nothing from it right now. Instead he turned his head away with a sigh and ignored Vegeta, figuring he’d let himself have that small rebellion. Vegeta didn’t seem like the type of person who liked being ignored.

xXx

The insubordinate beta dared to ignore him. It threw Vegeta for a loop, and he stared at the younger saiyan, feeling himself fill up with helpless frustration. He’d expected Kakarot to talk back, to argue or fight like he’d done before, like his personality seemed to dictate, instead he got… this.

Kakarot acting like Vegeta was the one wasting _his_ time.

The nerve! Vegeta flexed his hands and formed them into fists, wanting to use them on Kakarot’s averted face. 

But he calmed himself. Fighting here would prove counterproductive, and there would soon be enemies to focus on anyway. He snorted and turned his back on the beta. Like he cared anyway.

Not long after the elder came back, offering to show Kakarot, and by extension Vegeta, around. Nappa was already working on moving the rare metals they had acquired.

Kakarot followed the elder happily, babbling like a child whenever he was asked something and whenever something caught his eye. Vegeta found it sickening. No saiyan should act like that.

He followed Kakarot and the elder around with a brooding frown, not being offered any food despite Kakarot having different things stuck under his nose by smiling gultarks every minute.

Vegeta didn’t care how valuable the metal was. He’d never help these people again.

xXx

Goku had been right. The food was _amazing._ Especially the nuts roasted in honey tasting syrup. But the sugar glazed meat too, and oooh, the thin flatbread rolls with the berry fillings. He asked if he could bring back some of the roasted nuts because they were just so tasty and he wanted to share some with his brother and friend, and the little gultark woman making them lit up, pleased with the praise, and made him 3 bags.

He heard Vegeta scoff behind him as he thanked the woman, but Goku continued to ignore him. He wondered if he should do something about the animosity between them. True, he _did_ want to fight Vegeta, but having to constantly walk on eggshells while around him was bothersome. Goku didn’t like him, thought he was an asshole and cruel in fact, but it wasn’t like he’d gain anything from being enemies with the prince… Keeping that in mind, he turned around, facing Vegeta with a friendly smile.

“Do you wanna try some of this?” Goku asked, offering a haunch of glazed juicy meet to Vegeta. “It’s really good. So juicy it’s dripping.” He tempted.

Vegeta stared at him, surprised, but he quickly knitted his brows again. “I don’t need it.” He said.

“Never said you did, but it’s super tasty.” Goku answered, still holding the meat out.

Vegeta looked from Goku to the meat and back. “You’re sharing with me?” He wondered to himself, but he spoke out loud, so Goku answered. “Yea?”

Vegeta snatched the meat and bit into it while walking past Goku and not saying anything. Goku looked after him, then grinned down at Truk.

Truk smiled back, something knowing in his eyes. “You choose to make friends with difficult people. Brings you hardships.” He stated.

Goku shrugged. “Nah, it’s not so bad really. Several of my friends actually tried to kill me in the past… Most of them, really, and we get along great now!” He told, thinking of the other fighters back on Earth.

Truk chuckled. “This one’s different. You’ll find out.” He said, then patted Goku on the back and led him off to a leather worker where he was given a satchel bag.

Goku took the bag reluctantly. “Gosh, thanks and all, but I feel bad for taking this without paying.” He excused, trying to put the bag back down.

Truk stopped him with a gentle hand. “We do not use money like you, young saiyan with a kind heart. Take it as payment for how you will help us, if you please.”

Goku resisted Truk’s gentle pushing. “But we already got payment for helping you with the pirates. Those rocks?”

“This for what _you_ will do. In the long run.” Truk finished mysteriously.

Goku took the bag, feeling confused. But Truk smiled at his acquiescence and spirited him off to give him more things to put inside it.

xXx

It had gotten late when Goku finally made his way back outside; there he found Vegeta waiting at the edge of the woods, leaning against the trunk of one of the great trees. He didn’t seem bothered by the cold.

Goku made his way over to him carefully. “Where’s Nappa?” He asked.

“Off with the last load. He won’t join us again.”

Goku perched on a nearby rock, watching Vegeta watch the sky. Probably waiting for their opponents to show up. “I’ve been wondering why you brought me along.” Goku said. “It wasn’t to fight, I think. You don’t think I’m strong enough for that.”

Vegeta snorted. “More like _know_.” He mumbled.

Goku waited, hoping he’d say something more useful.

In the end Vegeta sighed. “I brought you for your ability to control your battle power. To lower it, specifically. I need you to get in somewhere, unnoticed. I’d prefer to do it myself but… In this case I’ll play distraction.” He said the last part reluctantly.

Goku hmm’ed. “I could just teach you it, you know?”

Vegeta snapped around to look at him. “You think it’s so easy?” He asked angrily, thinking of how the saiyans had been forced to use scouters for decades.

“Well you won’t know if you don’t try.” Goku argued.

Vegeta stared at him for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed. Goku watched him in surprise, having never seen the other man display positive emotions before.

“Ahh, your simplicity is almost refreshing.” Vegeta said after calming down again. “Tell me Kakarot, how would you suggest teaching me this?”

Goku squinted as he thought. For him it had come naturally over time, so as for teaching it… “Well, maybe you could try to feel me out first? See if you can focus on my ki enough to find me without using the scouter. We’re not doing anything right now anyway.” Goku suggested.

Vegeta watched him for a moment, then pressed the side of his scouter. “You heard that, didn’t you Raditz? I’m turning off the power readings on my scouter. Contact me as soon as the pirates get here.” He ordered, then turned off his scouter’s readings as he said he would.

“Now what?” He asked, eyes on Goku.

Goku took a breath before stepping closer to the man who’d almost killed him less than a couple of days ago. Some mix of fear and excitement tingling down his spine. “Close your eyes.” Goku coached as he came to stand in front of Vegeta, taking his hand and placing it on his own chest, where his heart was hammering traitorously away. “Focus on my breathing. My heartbeat. Get a sense of my whole being; then step back once you do and try to hold it.”

Vegeta looked from his own hand resting on Goku’s chest to his eyes with a lifted eyebrow, but complied anyway; closing his eyes and matching his breathing to Goku’s.

Goku closed his eyes too, doing the same as Vegeta.

They stood closely together in the falling snow, eyes closed and breathing synchronized, making for a strange sight for anyone who’d care to look.

Vegeta’s ki was easy for Goku to sense. It sprang from him like a gushing river, and just as blue, but with strange licks of golden yellow. Like koi fish, Goku thought with amusement. He wondered how his own ki felt in comparison. It was like trying to take in your own scent, not impossible but hard to categorize. Thinking off that, Goku also took the chance to draw in the prince’s scent, figuring he might as well familiarize himself with that too now that it wasn’t tinged with violent emotions. It was always easier to recognize something if you knew the baseline.

Goku breathed in. All in all Vegeta smelled surprisingly pleasant to him. Goku didn’t know how to describe people scent. On Earth he’d herd poetry that described someone like smelling of sunshine or strawberry or the earth after rain, but that was all just stuff you could come into contact with, and really had nothing to do with what a person smelled like themselves.

He wondered if saiyans had words that described how people smelled, seeing how they probably all had just as sensitive noses as Goku. For now he just categorized the unique scent as ‘Vegeta’ and left it at that.

After some minutes Vegeta removed his hand from Goku’s chest and stepped back slowly, backing further and further away. Goku kept standing where he was, keeping his breathing and ki as even as before. “How is it?” He asked once he heard Vegeta stop and stand still.

“I can _feel_ you.” Vegeta answered, sounding an unexpected mix of surprised and awed.

“That’s good.” Goku praised. “I’ll try flying into the woods now. Don’t follow my ki as I move. Let go of it and try to re-focus on it in five minutes or so. Then come find me. Using your scouter means you fail.” He said cheekily, before alighting and flying off towards the thick of the woods.

He settled in a hollow tree, dragging some of its indeed needle covered branches in front of the hole. No reason to make it too easy for Vegeta after all. Goku still kept his ki even though, for now at least.

He’d counted less than four minutes spent in hiding when the branches were pushed to the side and he looked up to find Vegeta watching him. “Good. How was that?” Goku asked.

“Easy enough once I refocused on you.” Vegeta said like it was nothing, but Goku figured it must have given him at least a little trouble or he’d have been there sooner.

“That’s fine. Now I’m gonna fly off again, and this time I’m gonna lower my ki. Not completely, but you’ll have to try harder to sense me. Good luck!” He called out, taking off before Vegeta could protest.

This time it took over five minutes for the prince to find him, but only just. “You’re a fast learner.” Goku observed, though it came out sounding more like praise.

“Of course. I’m an elite. You can’t compare me to the learning curve of a third class warrior like yourself.” Vegeta told him with a smirk.

Goku sucked in his cheek, then smiled widely just to spite him. “Really? Then I’m sure you’ll have no problem this time either.” He said, then blasted off at close to full strength, leaving the prince in the dust.

He quickly made it quite far away, then settled down under the cover of heavily snow coated branches of a tree, the ground dry and covered in the soft needle leaves underneath it. He lowered his ki from full blast to practically nothing, then settled in to wait, figuring it might take a while.

He was right. Over half an hour later Vegeta appeared, looking decidedly less pleased this time. He glared at Goku, then down at the roasted nuts he was eating from in his lap.

“Finally found me huh, or—“ Goku followed Vegeta’s eyes. “-did you just smell the food?”

Vegeta bristled. “Shut the fuck up! This isn’t helping me anyway. Leaning how to find you won’t help me hide my own battle power.”

Goku popped a nut in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “Well not with that attitude it won’t.” He needled, then stood up, brushing pine like needles off his pants. “The first step to learning to suppress ki is learning to feel it. You can’t control something you can’t sense.” Goku argued reasonably.

For a moment Vegeta’s ki flared and he looked like he’d attack him, lesson be damned, but to Goku’s surprise he pulled himself back and breathed out evenly.

“What now then?” Vegeta asked, teeth gnashed but voice even.

Goku observed him for a moment, amused by having some sort of an upper hand. “Now you focus again, on my ki first, but then try slowly turning it over to yourself. It should be easier if we match our breathing and heartrates again.”

“Oh yes. Do come closer.” Vegeta encouraged menacingly.

Goku wasn’t proud to admit that he hesitated for a second, but he pulled himself together and reluctantly came to stand in front of Vegeta again.

Vegeta’s hand shot out like a rattle snake, causing Goku to jump, but all he did was rest it on Goku’s chest again, like he’d done before. Vegeta smirked at him when he felt how Goku’s heart jumped, but Goku just closed his eyes, having no comeback to that anyway.

Goku reached up and settled his own hand on Vegeta’s chest too this time, so he could try to synch their heartrates. He had to admit this was normally easier to do with someone who didn’t put you so on edge.

He didn’t count how long they stood there this time, listening instead to the sounds of nature on Gultark; similar to Earth yet subtly different. Goku wondered how the forests on planet Vegeta sounded, if it was cold or hot there, or if the climate differed just as much as it did on Earth.

Goku had fallen into a calm state, the prince’s heartbeat a steady drum under his palm, when Vegeta stepped back, lowering his hand, but keeping his breathing matching Goku’s. “I’ve got it.” He breathed. “Now what?”

Goku blinked his eyes open, feeling relaxed after their near meditative state. “It’s your energy. It’s yours to shape, as long as you don’t over extend it.” Goku answered.

Vegeta grunted, and for another minute it was silent, until Goku felt a drop in Vegeta’s ki. It lowered itself by about half before rising again.

“You did it.” Goku observed.

“Of course.” Vegeta said, opening his eyes. He watched Goku, bathed in the forest’s shadows, for a moment and a bit. “You’re still coming with me. Your energy is lower and unknown to their scouters anyway. I’m not taking chances with this.”

“Of course.” Goku mirrored with a shrug, as if he’d expected nothing else. Truthfully he hadn’t, but he had entertained the idea of going to join the other fighters and actually _fight_ instead of sneaking around.

Vegeta snorted. “Get some sleep. They’re not here yet, so we may as well rest.” He reasoned, settling under the tree where Goku had been before, in the cave like area formed by its branches and the snow.

He took one side of the trunk, so Goku took the other. As Goku closed his eyes he wondered where he stood with Vegeta now. Goku still wanted to fight him, make no mistake, but he wondered if the prince would leave some of the animosity behind. It sort of felt like it, Goku mused, as he slowly slipped into sleep.

Now all they could do was wait for Frieza’s troops to show up.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some not completely hostile interaction at last.


	7. Are you worth the breath of life?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember, while all this is going on Raditz has nothing better to do than sit around and listen in on his brother and the prince while biting his nails. Ha!

 

Vegeta woke up to two things: His scouter beeping at him, warning him of new energy signatures on the planet, and to Kakarot using his thigh as a pillow.

Sleep muddled and kind of cold, Vegeta glared down at the younger saiyan, surprised by the audacity. But after thinking it over he figured that Kakarot had probably just moved in his sleep, seeking out the closest heat-source.

None the less Vegeta weaved his fingers through Kakarot’s dark hair, grabbed hold, lifted, and let go. He watched as the younger saiyan’s head smacked into the ground and he woke up with a start.

“Wha?—“ Kakarot jerked awake, confused, then seemed to register the pain from his face and scalp. “Auch.” He complained, rubbing both with a wounded frown.

Vegeta snorted at him and stood up. He checked the readings on the new arrivals, power levels as well as positions, before turning a frown back on Kakarot.

“What are you still doing down there? Get up. We have work to do.” He stated, not bothering to wait for Kakarot to catch up as he flew out of their makeshift resting space.

The pirates, who based on their power levels were definitely Frieza’s men and not sent by someone else hoping to become an intergalactic land shark, were already engaged with the C team it seemed. After a bit of searching, Vegeta found a direction in which he could read some slightly weaker power levels being gathered.

When he looked over to the other saiyan, Vegeta noticed with annoyance that Kakarot was also facing that direction, despite his scouter not displaying anything.

“Let’s go. Keep your ‘ki’ as low as you can.” Vegeta ordered and took off.

Ten minutes later they landed behind a rock formation, close enough to see one of the round dish formed ships Frieza usually used, but far enough away to not be immediately noticed by the enemies’ scouters.

Kakarot pressed close to look over Vegeta’s shoulder and earned himself an elbow to the gut for the unwelcome breach of space.

“Keep _hidden._ ” Vegeta hissed at him.

“Stop _doing that_ and I will.” Kakarot complained, rubbing his stomach.

Vegeta pinched his nose. He couldn’t lose patience this early, not with what needed to be done. “All right listen. You need to get on that ship, unnoticed, and place this chip-“ he held said chip up between two fingers “-in their mainframe.”

Kakarot frowned. “Well I don’t know what or where that is.” He told.

“You—“ Vegeta cut his rage off, looking skywards to find some measure of patience. “Why did I not expect this?” He asked himself. He held his hand up when an intake of breath made it seem like Kakarot was about to answer his rhetorical question.

“New plan.” Vegeta told him, relived he’d spent time on learning power control last night after all. “You’re going to attack their ship, drawing their attention as I go in. I don’t expect you to win but try to drag it out and most importantly, keep them _focused._ ” He warned. “If they notice me on board their ship, or it gets too damaged to take off, this plan will be a failure.”

“I get to fight?” Kakarot asked, seeming exited.

“You get to try not to die.” Vegeta corrected him.

“I think I can manage until you come back.” Kakarot argued, seeming sure of himself.

“Sure.” Vegeta snorted sarcastically. It was true these guys didn’t seem to be among Frieza’s strongest lot, but their battle power still ranked above Kakarot’s. At least the part of them battling C-team off in the distance was stronger than those having been left to guard the ship. It was clear no one had expected the gultarks to cause much resistance, much less to have hired mercenaries to fight for them.

“Now go draw their attention. Don’t stop until I re-join you.” He ordered.

Kakarot nodded with a serious face, before flying into the open and calling the enemy’s attention by sending an energy blast into the side of their ship, shaking it.

Vegeta watched as people streamed outside like rattled ants, before slowly making his way closer. It occurred to him that he’d never actually watched the younger saiyan fight, not bothering to count the times Kakarot had faced Vegeta himself for obvious reasons. He was curious if Kakarot would prove effective when faced with opponents closer to his own level, and decided to allow himself a little time to watch before he made his way inside. Better to be sure the raiders were properly distracted first anyway.

“Let’s see what you’re made off, beta.” He said, eyes focused on the approaching showdown.  

 

xXx

 

Goku flew out into the open after receiving his orders from Vegeta, wasting no time sending a ki blast off towards the ship.

His opponents were quick to come outside to see who’d attacked them. Goku counted three and decided it might be safer to land to face them on the ground instead of in the air. He preferred ground battle anyway, being more used to it.

The raiders faced him with angry glares. One was a blotchy pink and had four arms, another was green and the third looked human but with shockingly bright purple hair and eyes, and yellow horns sprouting from his forehead.

“Well if it isn’t the little saiyan resistance. Vegeta must be hard pressed if he’s sending a runt like this.” Pink noticed.

Green sighed and pressed his scouter. “Let’s see.” He said, focussing on Goku. “1006 huh? Tch. What a waste of time.”

Horns laughed. “Bwahaha, you sure you aren’t lost kid? Have you even looked at our battle power compared to yours?” He asked mockingly.

Goku got into a fighting stand, small smile on his face. “To be perfectly honest, my scouter can’t read it right now… But I can tell you’re all pretty strong.” He allowed.

Horns started laughing again, while green still looked like he was nothing but put out by the situation.

“That’s just sad.” Pink sniggered. “What do you guys say, should we take turns to make him last longer while we wait? If we all go at once it’ll be over in a blink.”

Green held up his hand. “I’m going back on the ship. This is a waste of time.”

“As long as I get first go at him.” Horns said, licking his lips. “I don’t do sloppy seconds.”

Goku started sweating at Green’s remark, remembering Vegeta ordering him to keep their attention. He fumbled for a plan for a second before an idea came to him.

“You think you’ve got me figured all out huh? Man… Aren’t you the ones who’re stupid?” He taunted, managing to catch their attentions again. “You think I’d bother using my full power on guys like you?” He asked, then laughed.

“Why don’t you keep a firm eye on those scouters of yours, and I’ll do you a favor and raise my power a little bit.” Goku asked, hoping his acting sounded convincing.

“Give it up with the lies already. I’ve never heard of a saiyan raising his power level like tha—“ Green said, breaking himself off when Goku started increasing his ki with a yell.

Goku clenched his fist and raised his ki as much as he thought he could manage while still keeping it steady. He knew he’d have to go all out right from the start, otherwise he wouldn’t stand a chance against these guys, all of them being stronger than him. Never mind taking on all 3 at the same time.

“H-he’s actually raising his power!” Pink exclaimed.

Both Green and Horns stared open mouthed at Goku as his power caused pebbles to start floating around him.

“1100… 1250…” Pink started counting, then trailed off as Goku with one last yell of exertion settled down, focused on his adversaries again.

“I don’t believe this… He just raised his battle power to 1600!” Pink yelled.

Goku felt sweat run down his face, power burning him from the inside, but smirked at the trio anyway. “I think I’ll leave it at this right now. You haven’t even showed me if you’re worth it yet.”

The raiders were silent for a moment. Then Horns barked out a laugh. “Ha! So he raised his power a little, so what? He’s still probably bluffing.” He popped his knuckles. “Let’s see if he’s still smiling after we have a go at him.”

Green frowned but got into position too. “It would seem we’d be better of disposing of this nuisance sooner rather than later. No taking turns, aim to kill him.”

“Aww, come on. At least let us torture him a little bit, it’ll be boring otherwise.” Horns complained.

Green sighed. “Fine. But we all still go. Don’t give him any openings to do anything strange.”

“You hear that kid? You’re shit out of luck.” Pink taunted.

Goku clenched his muscles, sweat already beading on his forehead. He hoped Vegeta would be fast. “Talk talk talk. Come at me already!” He yelled.

They obliged.

Goku managed to block Green’s kick to his face but took a punch in the stomach from Horns instead. Pink quickly got behind him and used his four arms to lock himself around Goku’s body. Goku yelled and freed himself with an explosion of ki, bending forwards and using a back kick to hit pink under his chin.

Pink screamed and backed up, blood gushing from his mouth, having probably bit his own tongue. Horns didn’t give Goku time to congratulate himself for the hit though, coming fast and hard at him from the side.

Goku exchanged blows with him, managing to dodge most, but he could sense Green behind him, and only his ki sense saved him from being run through by a green laser like beam sent by the coolheaded pirate.

The green ray almost hit Horns instead. “Hey, watch what the fuck you’re doing!” Horns yelled, startled and slightly singed.

“Don’t stand so close to him then. Just shoot him.” Green answered, not sorry.

“Fiiine.” Horns grumbled.

Goku looked around panicked, watching as all three, even the still bleeding Pink, circled around him and readied their own power blasts.

They shot.

Goku dodged. Barely.

Unfortunately the barrage continued and Goku was forced to practically dance in the air, praying fervently that Vegeta would show up in the next five minutes. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

Finally a double blast sent by Pink caught him off guard and Goku was sent hurling into a nearby cliff, hitting it with a sick sound.

“Ha! Take that your little bastard!” Pink rasped around a swollen and bloody tongue.

“Idiot, don’t talk. Just finish him off!” Green ordered.

“No wait, let me have him. I love the faces saiyans make right before they realize they’re going to die.” Horns said, already flying over to Goku.

He grabbed Goku by the hair and pulled him from where he was embedded into the rock. “Open your eyes up and look at me pretty boy.” Horns cajoled.

Goku opened his eyes, squinting through the blood tickling from his hairline.

“There you are.” Horns purred, stroking a finger down Goku’s cheek. “I can’t wait to see your pretty face all twisted up when I burrow my fist in your gut.” He told Goku with a sick grin, licking his lips.

“Back at you.” Goku coughed, then fired a kamehameha he’d been charging while the trio talked straight into Horns’ gut.

Horns screamed and Goku closed his eyes against the light of the blast as he felt the grip on his hair disappearing. He fell to his knees as soon as he was freed from the painful support, but quickly got back up again. There were still two opponents left.

“You’re dead!” Pink screamed at Goku, shocked at his comrade’s loss.

“No wait.” Green said, holding out an arm to stop Pink from charging. “During that last shot his power briefly rose to 1800. He might not have been bluffing as much as we thought.”

“I don’t give a shit! He fucking murdered Dallesh!”

Goku glanced to the side, to where the newly named Dallesh’s body had landed, quite far away. That had been a lucky shot, Horns being overconfident and focused on Goku’s face instead of what he’d been doing. Goku doubted he’d get such a chance again. To make matters worse his energy was already rapidly draining, suffering from the overextended state Goku was forced to keep it in.

“Even so. Don’t be careless. Saiyans are crafty and hard to kill. If you don’t finish the job properly they just keep coming back.” Green warned derisively.

Maybe Pink heard his comrade, maybe he didn’t, in either case he threw himself at Goku again with a deranged scream.

Green followed right behind him.

Ironically enough, now that Horns was gone the remaining two seemed even more efficient and Goku felt his body bending every which way painfully at each hit he took. Especially Green’s hits were bad, carrying both more power and being heavily charged with ki.

At last, in an act of desperation, Goku shot a quickly charged ki shot into Green’s face just to buy himself some distance. Unfortunately for him, Pink followed, still raging.

Goku took a hit to the ribs that sent him flying, then rolling. He came to a stop by meeting a snow-pile quite a distance away.

Goku gagged and spasmed, the pain blinding; his lungs refusing to draw air and his stomach set on exiting through his throat. For a few seconds everything went black, then turned white as he reopened his eyes and saw nothing but snow tinged with his own blood.

Goku struggled to his elbows and raised his head in time to see Pink’s feet enter his vision. A heavy boot connected with his head, causing lighting to singe across his eyes. Pink then placed his boot on Goku’s downed head, grinding his skull against the frozen ground.

“I’m gonna stomp your brain to mush.” The pirate promised.

Goku screamed, helpless against the pain.

How long had it been? Where was Vegeta? Had Green noticed him? Goku didn’t know, and had no way to tell as he struggled to stay conscious.

Suddenly the boot disappeared together with the pressure. “Know what?” Pink asked. “Killing you just like that would be too easy. Dallesh loved torturing you monkeys, so I’m gonna take a page out of his book and watch your expression while I kill you.” He told, kicking Goku in the side so the force caused him to roll over.

Goku tried to focus on Pink’s face but didn’t quite manage. He definitely had a concussion, if not worse. Goku tried to lift his arm, hoping to shoot Pink now while he was distracted by torture plans, but he must have been too slow; Pink’s foot came down hard on his upper arm, breaking the bone with a sickening snap.

Goku screamed again as the sharp pain zapped through him.

“Yes, yes! Just like that. Scream for me!” Pink crowed, squatting across Goku’s body and sitting down on his broken ribs. He fisted Goku’s hair and forced his head back, forcing Goku to expose his throat.

“Now let’s see how long you can hold your breath.”

Bony fingers encircled Goku’s neck, squeezing.

Goku scrabbled and scratched at the hands choking him before Pink’s other set of arms came into play, catching Goku’s wrists and holding them to the ground. Goku pulled to free himself, but it was impossible; Pink’s grip was firm and tougher than steel.

The pain and panic from being choked was indescribable.

As Goku’s heart hammered away on rapidly depleting oxygen the pressure in his head rose. Above him Pink was laughing, completely deranged, as he squeezed the life out of Goku, but Goku’s hearing was already disappearing, being replaced with whooshing sounding almost like the sea.

His vision was the next to go; the winter grey sky giving way to black despite Goku not closing his eyes. His body was shutting down, and Goku knew he had less than half a minute left, both blood and air being cut off.

 _‘Please, help me!’_   He thought desperately, but without expecting his plea to be heard.

 

xXx

 

Vegeta watched long enough to see all three raiders decide to attack Kakarot together, and looked on as Kakarot actually managed to mostly hold them off for the first few minutes. The raise in Kakarot’s power, his ki as the Earth raised saiyan called it, had surprised him. It was already far above what Vegeta had first experienced on Earth. Of course that still meant it was pathetically low compared to Vegeta’s own, but Kakarot’s rapid growth intrigued him.

Still, focusing on the moment, they seemed suitably distracted by the younger saiyan’s antics, so Vegeta lowered his ‘ki’ as much as he could and made his way to the entrance of the ship.

He slipped in unnoticed, and quickly looked around. It had been some years since he’d last been on one of Frieza’s ships, memories he preferred not to dwell on, but right now he needed to remember. _‘Left’_ he figured, running in that direction.

It didn’t take him that long to find their control room and dig out their mainframe. He set a drive brought for the purpose to download the most important files it could find, the ones best encrypted and the ones most accessed, before he placed the chip. He couldn’t afford to return with nothing in case the spy chip was noticed, but at least the implanted chip should also help with covering the traces of Vegeta’s theft.

He listened to the sounds of battle outside, and decided to try and guess at the happenings by following the fighters ki’s, seeing as he was waiting for the files to download anyway.

Kakarot seemed to be actually handling himself, even if he was currently overextending his ki, something Vegeta remembered the teenager had said not to do.

Vegeta lifted his eyebrows in surprise when he actually felt one of the raider’s ki being snuffed out. “Huh.” He muttered. What Kakarot lacked in raw power he seemed to perhaps be making up for in battle experience. The younger warrior might seem airheaded and easygoing, but he was clearly quite adept at battle tactics, as evidenced by the little show he’d been putting on outside before Vegeta had gone in.   

Things seemed to go downhill after the one raider’s demise though, if the rapid draining of Kakarot’s ki was anything to go by.

Vegeta glanced at the drive, but it wasn’t done yet. He tapped his finger against his knee restlessly as he heard Kakarot scream in pain, the sound reaching clearly even from outside.

 _‘For fucks sake’_ he thought as he felt Kakarot’s ki dropping low at the same time as his scouter informed him that one of the remaining pirates were making their way back to the ship, the increasing proximity counter beeping away.

Vegeta growled, his leg jumping, and he glared at the drive again, mentally urging it to hurry up. Almost as if it sensed this, the drive beeped, signaling that it was done. Vegeta snatched it up and quickly made sure he hadn’t left anything out of place before running for the exit.

Outside a green skinned man was already making his way up the ramp, his comrade laughing away like a maniac in the background.

Green skin’s eyes widened as Vegeta appeared in front of him, his scouter not having picked him up thanks to Vegeta having lowered his ki to a point where a scouter wouldn’t bother registering it.

Vegeta sent him a wide disturbing smile, the ran him through; piercing his chest and heart with a ki charged hand.

Green skin slumped into Vegeta, dead on the spot, and Vegeta shrugged him off, pulling his now bloody hand and arm free from the other man’s ruined chest cavity.

Then he flew over to the remaining raider who was busy, it seemed, with choking Kakarot to death. Not bothering to announce his presence Vegeta simply shot a power beam straight through the pirate’s brain.

The four armed alien fell to the side, gliding off of Kakarot as he fell. Vegeta made his way over and kicked the body aside, pleased.

No one had managed to report his presence, or the fact that he’d been on board the ship, which had really been the end goal. Vegeta made sure to stomp on four arms’ scouter, not wanting anyone to pick up his voice, before turning his attention to Kakarot.

“Shit.” He cursed at the sight of the younger saiyan. It was pretty clear that Kakarot wasn’t breathing anymore, and his eyes were open and glassy, no life behind them.

Vegeta kneeled down, placed a hand on Kakarot’s chest, and noticed the faintest flicker of life remaining in his weakly spasming heart. It finally gave out just as Vegeta held his hand over it.

Sighing, Vegeta watched Kakarot’s face for a moment and wondered if it was worth it. The young man had already taught Vegeta how to sense and manipulate energy, and he was too weak to have any other use, so even if he died now it wouldn’t matter.

Despite this thought, Vegeta still only watched Kakarot’s glassy eyes for a few seconds longer before he bent down, pinched Kakarot’s nose closed and covered his mouth with his own, breathing air into his empty lungs.

The boy might be trash, but he was still saiyan, the prince reasoned.

Vegeta blew air into the beta twice, noticing that his chest was raising and falling properly, before starting to pump life back into Kakarot heart. At least the chest compressions Vegeta was giving him were doubtful to make much of a difference to his already broken ribs.

Vegeta continued with this, shifting back and forth between blowing two lungfuls of air into Kakarot before going back to doing compressions, for quite a while. He had reached the fifth repeat and was starting to think he may as well stop, not wanting to waste his time. But as he bent down to give Kakarot what he’d decided would be the last round of air, the younger saiyan gasped back to life underneath his lips.

Vegeta sat back while running an arm over his mouth. He watched dispassionately as Kakarot revived, even blinking back awake surprisingly enough.

“…G-geta?” His voice was weak and hoarse.

 Vegeta sighed. “What a pain.” He mumbled to himself, before moving closer to the younger man when it became clear that his eyes wouldn’t focus. “Yes, it’s me. It’s done, so we’re going back.” He told Kakarot.

The beta blinked, unfocused, before a small smile graced his bruised and bloody face. He closed his eyes, though it didn’t seem like he’d fallen unconscious. Probably a good sign, Vegeta thought, given the head injury he seemed to have acquired.

Vegeta snuck his arms around Kakarot’s shoulders and under his knees before standing up carefully. Kakarot still moaned in pain, and Vegeta noticed his one arm dangling uselessly at his side. He sighed again, put upon, and briefly lowered Kakarot’s legs to make sure his broken arm was resting securely across his chest before they flew off.

He set a straight course for their ship, looking at his scouter while he flew to check if the C team was about done with their fights as well. A couple were still fighting, but it seemed like most were back on or at least around the ship.

xXx

Vegeta drew some attention as he came into view of the people around the ship, probably making quite a sight of himself by carrying a bloody and limp Kakarot in his arms like a fair maiden. Vegeta snorted at the mental picture.

Unsurprisingly one of the people waiting outside was Raditz, who turned wide-eyed and pale at the sight of his brother.

“Don’t worry, I managed to pump life back into him.” Vegeta told him factually as he touched down. Raditz made motions to take over carrying his brother but Vegeta ignored him, knowing that Kakarot didn’t need to be moved any more than absolutely necessary right now.

He spotted Cucuba on his way up the ramp, and with a motion of his head she fell into step with him towards the med bay, Raditz also shadowing their heels.

“You managed to let one of them go without it seeming suspicious?” Vegeta inquired, expecting his instructions to have been followed and executed, even by the lower level team.

“Yes! There’s one hiding out in the forest as we speak. Seems like he thinks he’s far enough away for us not to notice him with our scouters.” Cucuba reported, throwing her hair behind her. Vegeta noticed bemusedly that she’d found time to comb it.

He hummed. “Well, they are using an older model.” He mentioned as he turned around a doorway and entered the ship’s med-bay. 

The girl he’d brought on as medic squeaked at the sight of the wounded and blood dripping Kakarot and rushed over, hands hovering uselessly above his body and head.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. “For gods sake, ready a damn tank already.” He growled, eager to rid himself of his burden.

The girl snapped up and nodded, before hurrying off to the side to do so. Meanwhile Vegeta waited, annoyed by Raditz’ hoovering behind his shoulder, and Cucuba watched the lax Kakarot in Vegeta’s arms with a distasteful frown.

“I’m surprised you bothered saving him?” She remarked, but the underlying questioning of Vegeta’s motives was there.

Vegeta ignored her, not wanting to fuel her already annoying fixation on him and her apparent jealousy. Then again…

“Well, I’m finding myself growing fond of him.” He said neutrally, not wanting to lay it on too thick, but smirked when he saw Cucuba draw up, an ugly look on her face, out the corner of his eye. Behind him Raditz also practically stopped breathing and Vegeta had to force himself to keep his mirth under wraps.

Just then the medic girl called that the healing tank was ready, and just to mess with them more, Vegeta walked over and carefully settled Kakarot into the chamber. He was mindful of the beta’s bruises as he put the breathing tube on him, and he made sure to remove the bag Kakarot had been carrying as well as the cloak before closing the glass and watching the tank fill up with green liquid.

When Kakarot was fully submerged Vegeta finally turned around and threw the cape and the bag to Raditz. “Souvenirs.” He explained, walking past the two other saiyans, taking note on the bewildered expression on Raditz’ face and the ugly one on Cucuba’s.

Vegeta walked towards the ships cockpit, only allowing himself to laugh once he’d closed himself in. Today had been a pretty good day, he thought, taking out the hard drive and looking at it with a smirk. And productive.

It felt like he was finally moving somewhere.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goku ended up in a healing tank again. That’s what, the third time now? If you don’t count the time Vegeta stuffed him into one just because he didn’t want to deal with him. Boy’s getting some zenkai boosts and really moisturized skin if nothing else.
> 
> And aaahhh, Vegeta… So nice, so caring, so—*Vegeta punches someone through the chest* ….Anyway. Let’s see what next chapter brings. I’m sure that Vegeta messing with people just for the hell of it could never backfire in any way.
> 
> I didn't really have the mental capacity to proof-read this chapter, but if you spot any mistakes; be they spelling or inconsistencies, feel free to point them out.


	8. Fight and Bite.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's have some 'not at all' sexually charged wrestling, some brainfart in the corner of writer's brain yelled, and writer wholeheartedly agreed.

 

When Goku woke up the next day, it turned out they were staying on Gultark until further notice, or at least until ‘something-you-don’t-need-to-know, you third class’, as the case was for Goku. He got the feeling that the slender woman leading the C-team, Cucumber or something, really didn’t like him much. She had glared at him really fiercely when he’d chosen to ask her. Not that he had otherwise spent much time thinking on it, being far more interested in getting food in his belly than figuring out why they were staying on a planet _known for good food_.

He had priorities.

Raditz had been twitchy and annoying since Goku woke up, and after several whispered conversations between themselves the other saiyans had started looking at him weird too. Goku felt like he had missed something.

Dilla, after she had scolded Goku on practically, no, _actually_ dying there for a little while, had seemed to be the only one remotely pleased, and when Goku had inquired why, had simply tapped her nose with a knowing smirk.

Apparently Vegeta had been forced give Goku CPR before bringing him back to the ship, which Goku found mildly disconcerting to say the least. He was surprised he’d even woken up again, and that the prince hadn’t just left him to become food for the wildlife.

Perhaps there were good parts to Vegeta after all? Goku wasn’t sure. The prince seemed high strung; at least that had been Goku’s impression after spending yesterday with him. But then again, being a prince was probably stressful, not that Goku knew anything about that or cared to.

After eating a good portion of the ship’s rations, Goku managed to whine and beg and cajole Raditz into agreeing to go hunting with him, which was really just a cover for going to visit the gultarks again.

He’d tried to bring Dilla too, but she seemed set on staying near the med-bay, actually ready to do her job as she put it, so Goku settled for giving her a bag of roasted nuts instead.

Apparently going hunting on a strange planet during a mission was something you needed permission for, but Raditz had managed to get Nappa to sign off on it, the bald saiyan not seeming to care much either way, but of course taking his time to leer at Goku and suggest coming with them.

Goku had declined and then quickly dragged Raditz out with him.

“I can’t believe you did that.” Raditz told Goku as they walked through the snow, referring to Goku’s dismissal of Nappa’s attention.

“Of course I did that. He’s super weird and creepy. This whole beta thing is super weird to start with, actually.” Goku argued and complained as he moved a branch out of his path. They were making their way through the undergrowth, looking for tracks; Raditz actually set on bringing some prey back since that was what they’d gone out to do, far as anyone knew at least.

“I’m not disagreeing with you there; you’re just pretty tactless in general when it comes to courting.” Raditz said.

“What courting?” Goku mumbled distractedly, having spotted some fresh hoof prints in the snow.

Behind him, Raditz sighed. “Maybe that’s why. You simply don’t notice when alphas tries to engage you, not that I mind, of course. It’s just pretty sad to see them swarm around you while you eat, or entice you to go places with them, and you just brushing them off.” Raditz explained, then hesitated. “No. You know what? Never mind what I just said. It’s fucking gold.”

Goku made a face his brother couldn’t see because Goku was currently bent over, recovering some wool like fur from a low branch. “You think this is good?” He asked, referring to the size and meat quality of the beast they were following, hoping to change the subject away from alphas.

Raditz took the fur tuft, scanned it with his wrist pad and read the results. “Looks fine. It’s plenty big at least, and it’s a plant orientated omnivore, though that doesn’t always mean anything when it comes to taste.” He noted. “I try to stay away from pure carnivores though. Ninety percent of the time they taste weird.”

They followed the track in silence for a while.

“Speaking of alphas.” Raditz started, and Goku audibly groaned. “What do you think of Vegeta?” Raditz asked, ignoring his little brother’s annoyance.

Goku sighed. His opinion of the prince hadn’t changed much one way or the other over the last day. Okay, maybe a little. “He’s maybe not _as_ bad as I first thought, but I still wanna punch him in the face most of the time.” He allowed, thinking of how Vegeta had bothered to save him after his last battle, so Goku couldn’t think of him as completely bad. Actually, he’d forgiven people based on less in the past, but Vegeta just rubbed him the wrong way.

“So you don’t like him better than the other alphas?” Raditz inquired, sounding hopeful.

Goku thought about the other alphas’ weird regard for him. Compared to that Vegeta’s indifference or anger seemed much preferable. “No, I definitely like him better than the other alphas.” Goku said, maybe exaggerating a bit, but genuinely thinking of the other alphas as mostly annoying, and finding Vegeta to be refreshingly simple in his dislike towards Goku in comparison.

Behind him Raditz cursed his luck, and their ancestors, loudly. Goku shushed him, having just come across fresh dung.

It took a while to make Raditz snap out of his weird funk; Goku having to promise him, repeatedly, that he wouldn’t seek out Vegeta, which Goku had had no plans to do before he was strong enough to fight him anyway. But finally they were both refocused on the hunt, and instead of walking, flew slightly above the ground to make no noise, as they circled around from each their side to catch the beast.

It turned out to be some weird and frankly quite scary looking mix of a boar and a goat on steroids, which sounded silly, but you’d be surprised. Those teeth looked _nasty_.

Not that the animal stood a chance, whatever its defenses, its skin still being easily penetrated by a ki shot.

The downed animal was about the size of a car, but the weight didn’t bother Goku any, and he lifted it up easily. “You ready to go back with this?” He asked Raditz, floating above his brother, figuring that they could just leave the body near the ship and then pick it up when they were ready to actually return.

“Ssch!” Raditz hushed him, face in a frown and attention focused on his scouter. “There’s another energy reading not far off. In that direction.” He pointed. “Looks like one of the pirates.”

Goku looked in the direction Raditz had pointed, extending his senses. “That’s where the gultarks are!” He exclaimed, blasting off towards the strange ki, still carrying their kill and ignoring his brother’s “Kakarot I don’t think—Wait, come back!”

As soon as he reached the clearing in front of the two mountains, where he’d been the day before, it became easy to tell that things were wrong. Some of the gultarks screamed from inside the mountain just as he landed, and children were crying, while smoke billowed out of the door leading to the big market place.

Goku dropped his baggage, leaving the dead animal behind and continuing inside, even as he could hear and feel Raditz catching up to him.

It took no time to spot the root of the problem: Standing among the towering pillars holding up the weight of the mountain, and surrounded by terrorized gultarks, stood one of Frieza’s men; easily recognizable by his armor, even broken and blood smeared as it was.

The pirate was holding the elder up in the air by the throat, demanding provisions.

“HEY!” Goku yelled furiously. “LET HIM GO!”

The pirate actually did, maybe from surprise at seeing Goku and Raditz standing there all of a sudden.

“More saiyans…” The pirate pressed his scouter, the two newcomers’ numbers coming up. “You guys aren’t the main forces, huh?” He stated as he read the result. Then he grinned. “Good. That means I can take some revenge on you two for what your comrades did to me before I leave this shit hole.” He smirked. He was injured, but he figured he’d be able to take these two, not knowing, of course, about Goku generally keeping his energy low when he wasn’t fighting. All he saw was one averagely powered saiyan and one low.

Goku got in a battle stance, clenched fists up and ready. He looked around at the battered and frightened gultarks, feeling frustration. It’d be dangerous to fight in here.

Goku glanced at Raditz, hoping his brother had noticed the dilemma, but the older saiyan was already grinning at the pirate, blood lust in full roar. He wouldn’t be on any help moving the battle.

Raditz grinned madly. “This is great actually. I was frustrated not getting to fight this time around. Guess the others missed a couple of lowlifes, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Raditz!” Goku stage whispered, trying to alert his brother to the disadvantages of their current battleground, but it fell on deaf ears. Instead Goku turned his focus back on the pirate, thinking quickly.

“You want to fight us?” He asked, grabbing his brother by his neck hemline in preparation. “See if you can catch us then!” Goku taunted, then blasted off, landing again outside at the far end of the clearing. He didn’t dare go any further, less the pirate gave up on pursuing them.

“Kakarot! What the hell?” Raditz complained, having been dragged along.

“We couldn’t fight him in there. We’d risk bringing down the whole mountain.” Goku explained, eyes focused on the approaching enemy.

Raditz stood up and brushed his clothes free of snow. He hadn’t thought of that, but admitted to himself that Kakarot had been smart to move them.

The pirate landed in front of them, head tilted. “Guess I should just go at you both at the same time, you don’t stand a chance either way.”

“Try it.” Goku dared.

The pirate attacked, two power blasts aimed at the saiyans. Both Raditz and Goku dodged, Raditz firing off his own shot and Goku trying to get closer. The pirate brought himself closer to Goku when he dodged Raditz’ attack, and Goku took the chance to aim a powerful kick at him, which connected with the man’s side.

The pirate was thrown upwards through the air, somersaulting to regain his equilibrium and coming to a stop with the pale winter sun behind his back.

Raditz looked after the pirate, eyes shaded with a hand. “Not bad little brother.” He praised, noting privately that Kakarot’s growth rate in battle power really seemed to be out of the normal. Kakarot wouldn’t have been able to send a man with that power level flying when Raditz had first met him.

“He’s attacking!” Goku warned, dodging the ki blasts the pirate rained down on them while using the sun as a cover.

“Dance monkeys, dance!” The pirate yelled, laughing as he showered them in attacks.

“Raditz, cover me!” Goku urged, seeing how his brother was expending much less energy and effort dodging. Goku flew up towards the pirate as Raditz started firing his own shots to counter the attacks.

“Yaargh!” Goku yelled, catching the man with another kick, this time to the face. The man spun around and dropped a bit of altitude, but quickly returned to Goku and punched back. The two fighters were soon locked in an aerial hand to hand battle, hits coming so fast it’d have been impossible to follow for the untrained eyed.

Raditz shielded his eyes from the sun, struggling to see who had the upper hand and not wanting to accidently hit his brother by shooting blind.

Finally one of the figures was sent flying, hitting the ground with a boom and making a sizable crater in the process. Raditz looked back and forth wildly. Who’d lost?

When the dust filling the clearing settled, the winner appeared, still floating in the sky. It was Goku.

Goku sank down to his brother’s side, feeling wobbly. That pirate had packed a punch, and Goku’s face and torso were bloody and messed up again, even if it wasn’t as bad as the last time. He hoped Dilla wouldn’t be too mad.

Raditz took in his brother’s bruises. “At this rate you might as well make the med-bay your living quarters.” He told Kakarot, bringing up his own hand and trying to wipe blood off of his little brother’s cheek.

Goku winced against Raditz ministrations and pulled away. “Well I don’t even have quarters yet, so I might.” He joked, despite his injuries.

Raditz rested a hand on his hip and sighed, looking back towards the mountains. “Guess we may as well visit those gultarks of yours and see if they’ll patch you up before we go back.”

Goku perked up at that. “Yes! Let’s do that!” He started flying towards the gultarks hidden town again. “I hope Frieza’s man didn’t break too many things or hurt anyone. I really wanted you to try their food.”

“More like you wanted to eat it again yourself.” Raditz snorted.

Goku laughed, not denying it.

xXx

The gultarks cheered when Goku and Raditz were the ones that came back. Especially Goku was quickly surrounded by small happy faces. Some were lightly injured, but no one had died, the pirate having been more focused on provisions than killing the population.    

Goku greeted them all with a smile, brushing off their thanks, stating it had been the job they’d been hired for after all. Finally the sea of small grey people parted, and Mbellemtruk made his way to Goku too.

“You have been a help to us. Thank you, Goku.” Mbellemtruk looked at Raditz. “And you, brother of Goku.”

“It’s Kakarot. His name is Kakarot.” Raditz growled, annoyed.

“Don’t worry about it Truk.” Goku said, scratching his head. “You think you guys could help me patch up though? That’d be nicer than flying back injured.”

“Of course. Come with me. Our healer will have a look at you.” Mbellemtruk offered, leading Goku away by the hand.

Raditz were left behind, surrounded by small children in awe of his long wild hair. Raditz frowned nervously down at the ankle biters with sticky hands surrounding him, hoping that Goku would be quick.

 

xXx

 

The gultarks were generous as they bid goodbye to the two saiyans, giving Goku enough food and snacks for three meals to bring along. Raditz ended up carrying it all though, Goku still sore and a bit slower after the fight.

Coupled with the body of their downed prey, he was heavily weighed down, much to Goku’s amusement. “You look like a turtle.” Goku told him with a laugh.

“I don’t know what that is, but I will still smack you.” Raditz promised. Goku just continued laughing.

They drew some attention when they landed back at the ship, probably having been away for longer than expected. Maybe someone had picked up on their fight with their scouters too.

 Actually that seemed to be the case; Vegeta was quickly making his way towards them, people parting around him like the red sea.

“What happened?” He demanded, looking from Raditz who were off-loading his burdens and to Goku, whose clothes were dirty and spotted with blood, again. “Who allowed you two to leave?” He wondered, only for the guilty silence coming from behind him to answer that question. Vegeta mentally scheduled Nappa for a beating.

Goku answered the prince’s first question. “We met one of Frieza’s men. He was attacking the gultarks, so we took care of him.”

Vegeta just stared at them. Then the prince drew up, clenched his fists and yelled. “You IDIOTS!”

Goku blinked at him, surprised, while Raditz was quick to get out of dodge, backing up as much as he could. Vegeta seemed focused on Goku anyway.

Vegeta stomped up to Goku and grabbed hold of his shirt, shaking him. “We _meant_ to let that man go. You’ve just ruined the entire mission!”

Goku frowned. “Well no one told _me_ that, and besides, he was attacking the gultarks!” he defended.

Vegeta growled. “Let me be clear; I don’t give a _shit_ about the backwater natives of this planet. All I care about is that our chances of defeating Frieza just plummeted, thanks to you!” He pushed Goku, hard, causing the younger man to trip and fall down on his butt. Vegeta followed him down, hand still fisted in his shirt, and pressed him down, keeping him flat on his back and helpless.

Or so he thought.

Goku growled back before taking a swing at Vegeta, the unexpected action causing the punch to actually connect with the prince’s face.

Vegeta’s head snapped to the side.

Everyone froze.

Then, slowly, Vegeta turned his head back around, looking back down at Goku.

“Ooh. You should _not_ have done that.” Vegeta told the beta.

Goku just bared his teeth in a soundless snarl, before bucking his entire body, trying to throw Vegeta off. Vegeta wouldn’t budge so easily though, but Goku’s arms and legs were free, and he didn’t hesitate to use them, wrestling with the prince on the ground and rolling them around like a pair of fighting cats.

Raditz made no move to help his little brother, knowing he wouldn’t stand a chance and not wanting to draw Vegeta’s attention anyway.

The other saiyans looked on in warrying stages of disbelief too, at their prince rolling around on the ground with a common foot soldier.

Goku could tell Vegeta wasn’t using a fraction of his full strength. In fact the prince was mocking him by exerting so little effort in holding Goku back, grinning down at him with a taunting smile all the while.

Vegeta was pissed, angry at the failed plan and the wasted work and hope that gone into it, but having Kakarot fighting desperately underneath him, trying to buck Vegeta with his full strength, brought some measure of satisfaction. Vegeta couldn’t say why he was doing this, but something about seeing Kakarot rage at him futilely, sweat beading, eyes dark and wild…. It had his blood surging.

The beta was fighting no holds barred, snarling and biting. Vegeta gave back just as good, while still having time to laugh mockingly at the display.

Kakarot responded by suddenly sinking his teeth into Vegeta’s shoulder, something which came so unexpected that Vegeta actually yelled at the pain, before roaring at the younger saiyan and biting back.

Something unexpected happened then; Kakarot going lax underneath Vegeta as Vegeta’s teeth pierced the lower tendon of his neck. Vegeta pulled back, teeth bloody, surprised by the change.

Goku stared back up at him, dazed, feeling like all his strings had been suddenly cut.

“What—“ Vegeta started, blood dripping down the corner of his mouth, before Nappa was suddenly there, gripping him under both arms and pulling him off of Kakarot.

“Prince! Calm youself!”

Meanwhile Raditz got a move on and ran to Goku’s side, turning his brother’s head manually to look at the wound. “Shit.” He cursed, gathered the younger man up quickly and ran for the med-bay.

Vegeta was left behind, confused by his urge to chase, even as he was held back by Nappa.

“What just happened?” He asked, thrown by the events.

“You bit a beta!” Nappa yelled, finally letting go of the prince.

 Vegeta almost stumbled before standing up properly and running the back of his hand over his mouth. It came back strained with Kakarot’s blood. “Not like _that_.” He argued.

He knew what Nappa was thinking off; the mating bite, of course, but Kakarot wasn’t in heat and they hadn’t been courting. That hadn’t been a normal reaction anyway. Normally betas, after testing their mates, calmed down and bared their throats themselves, _inviting_ the bite if they wanted it.

Vegeta had bitten Kakarot as they were fighting, no calms about it, so the beta’s reaction was weird. Vegeta pursed his lips, looking towards the ship where Raditz had disappeared with his brother; probably eager to get him away from Vegeta before any sort of mating drive could take over. Vegeta doubted it would have happened anyway.

“Has he ever been disciplined by an alpha stronger than him?” Vegeta wondered, referring to Kakarot.

Nappa frowned. “I think… No? He was raised on Earth and has been with us, awake, for less than a week. Besides that’s only something you do to cubs.” He argued.

Vegeta hummed. “Hnn, and didn’t that seem like a cub’s reaction?” He asked, pointing to the teeth marks in his own shoulder and thinking of how Kakarot had gone limp like a scolded puppy.

Nappa looked from Vegeta’s shoulder to the prince’s eyes. “Bit old for that, isn’t he? Almost nineteen if I remember correctly.”

Around them the other saiyans were listening attentively, all standing very still and drawing no attention so they wouldn’t be told off.

Vegeta rubbed his chin. “Well, he spent a lot of time among another species. I wouldn’t be surprised if some wires has gotten crossed and are causing him to act out now that he’s among his own.”

Nappa didn’t look fully convinced. “You’re sure you didn’t mate him?”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Vegeta told him, the ‘you idiot’ implied. “He wasn’t in heat, he didn’t submit and I didn’t invite him to. He just froze like a cub who’d been told off.”

Just then, off in the distance, the weak sound of an engine was heard and as the gathered saiyans turned towards the sound, they all watched as Frieza’s men’s ship took off, flying out of the atmosphere.

Vegeta felt his shoulders come down; releasing the tension he hadn’t noticed he’d been holding. It would seem like Raditz and Kakarot hadn’t managed to kill the remaining pirate after all. The miserable sod had probably dragged himself back to his ship, half dead, in the hopes of getting away. Vegeta doubted Frieza would let him live anyway, but it didn’t matter, not as long as the ship itself returned and stayed in use.

“Looks like the plan was a success after all.” He noted to Nappa, then turned to address the rest of the saiyans. “Pack up. We’re leaving.” He told them, seeing as they no longer had any reason to stay on the planet to make sure Frieza’s ship took off.

Vegeta walked towards the cockpit then, deep in thought. Kakarot bothered him; everything from his mannerisms to his unpredictability. He would ban him from other missions for the time being, Vegeta decided. The boy was too prone to act by himself; a wildcard he couldn’t afford, especially when privately, he could admit (if only to himself) that Kakarot drew his attention…

Vegeta shook his head; putting thoughts of Kakarot and the memory of the beta’s lax form underneath him out of his mind. He had data to analyze, a spy chip to activate and keep track off, and his father to call in a while, assuming his two first endeavors brought him any worthwhile results.

He didn’t have time for weak, pretty eyed betas.

 

xXx

 

The first thing Goku became aware of when the weird haze lifted from his head, was his brother’s frowning face. “Wha—?” He tried, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth. He hadn’t fallen unconscious, had been aware of being carried off to the med-bay, but everything seemed blurry, and he felt weirdly relaxed, almost like someone had given him sedatives.

Dilla’s face appeared above him too. She placed what felt like cold thick cream over his neck, then smacked a bandage on top of it. “There you go idiot. Be thankful I’m bothering to patch you up after all that.”

Goku blinked at her, then turned back to look at his brother, hoping for an explanation to what had just happened. Instead of answers he got bombarded with questions.

“Do you feel warm? Aggressive? Do you wanna go find Vegeta?” Raditz demanded, expression intense.

Goku licked his dry lips. “No. He’s an asshole.” He managed to reply. “I just feel groggy.”

Raditz visibly slumped. “Oh thank the gods.”

Dilla snorted off to the side. “I told you his hormone levels were normal. Calm down already. Vegeta wouldn’t mate someone by accident like that anyway, even if it was possible.”

“Mate?” Goku repeated, focusing on the most serious word.

“We were scared—“ Raditz started, only to be interrupted by a chough from Dilla. Raditz sent her a glare before continuing. “ _I_ was scared Vegeta had given you a mating bite.” He said, not that the explanation did much for Goku, who didn’t know what a mating bite was.

“Well he did bite me.” Goku complained, rolling his shoulder and wincing at how it pulled at the bite mark. He hoped the one he’d given Vegeta proved just as annoying. Dilla smacked him. “Stop that. It should heal without a scar, but not if you keep agitating it. Don’t make me stuff you in a tank again.” She warned.

Goku shrank back, hands up. “Please don’t do that.” He pleaded.

Dilla harrumphed and stalked off to do something presumably medic related, which left Raditz to explain what a mating bite was, once it became clear that Goku didn’t know.

Raditz fumbled for an explanation, hating that he had to be the one to have these awkward conversations with his brother. “All right see… So when a beta goes into heat, and they seek out and fight with alphas they might deem worthy, the alphas will invite them to submit, and if the beta deems them worthy and wants to mate with them they’ll do so. That doesn’t mean all couples bite each other right then and there, but the gesture is there and it’ll usually happen at some time during the heat, after the couple figures out if they want to be mates for more than the duration of it.”

Goku ‘ooohed’, this being the first time he heard about what would happen when he went into heat in more detail. Doctor Basil had covered the biological and purely technical parts of it, but that didn’t tell Goku much more than what his body would have eventually made him aware of anyway.

“Do all betas do that? Both males and females?” Goku wondered, referring to the part where they sought out alphas and fought.

“It warries from person to person, but if they want to mate, or just spend their heat in company, then yes. Otherwise they may just seclude themselves together with a lot of food once they start noticing the signs. Or train in private for a week straight.” Raditz told him, then hesitated before adding. “Dad says mom is vicious when it happens, and even if she’s not the best fighter you shouldn’t get on the wrong side of her.”

Frankly Raditz hoped that Kakarot went the squirreling away with lots of food route, but there was just no way of knowing. If Raditz was unlucky he’d take after their mom.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Goku remarked. He’d been worried he’d start acting like a barn cat, sticking his butt in the air and rolling over for pettings.

“It’s bad for everyone _around you_.” Raditz grumped. “Betas battle power rises when they go into heat, and so does their emotions. It’s not a fun combination for anyone.”

“I think it sounds fun.” Goku argued, thinking of the fights he could get into and what food he’d want to eat.

“Well you’re damaged.” Raditz retorted with a sulk, already dreading the eventuality, and the fact that he’d be involved because he was Kakarot’s only present relative and the teenager had never had a heat before. If Raditz could have asked for vacation time he’d have done it as soon as Kakarot started showing signs of heat. Instead he’d have to stay around to subdue his brother.

“Hey… Did we really mess up the mission?” Goku asked, feeling down over the fact, even if it hadn’t been done on purpose and Vegeta had had no place to get so pissed.

Raditz ran a hand through his hair. “No. I overheard the others saying that they saw Frieza’s ship take off, so apparently it worked out. I guess you didn’t kill that pirate after all... We’ve left Gultark too, and are heading back to checkpoint 8.”

“Can I try to use the gravity in your room when we get back?” Goku asked, cheered by the news.

“You can use one of the gravity rooms designed for training. I guess it’s better that you start getting used to different gravities anyway; not all planets are as easy as this one.”

Goku cheered at the news, eager to start training again. His last defeat by Vegeta had been even worse than the two first, the alpha not taking him seriously at all and needing nothing but a bite to subdue Goku completely.

Speaking of.

Goku placed a hand against the bandage on his neck. “That bite thing… Can that happen again? Can I stop it from happening again?”

Raditz frowned. “It was actually pretty weird. At first I freaked out, seeing where Vegeta had bitten you, but afterwards I realized that you’d acted more like a cub being disciplined by its elders.”

“A cub?” Goku gawked. “You mean like a kid?! I’m almost nineteen!” He objected.

Raditz held up a hand to calm him down. “I know. I figure it might be a combination of things. You’re in a new place, unsure of your status, you don’t recognize saiyan body language or culture properly yet and your body is trying to catch up to the lag behind caused by your tail being cut off. You’re basically like an insecure cub.” Raditz explained his theory.

Goku wrinkled his nose, displeased with the notion but not really able to counter it. “Can you do that to me too? Bite me to discipline me or whatever.” He asked, wanting to be sure.

“Firstly, we usually just nip at cubs, and secondly, no. I don’t think so. It may just be because Vegeta is an unusually strong alpha and you were subconsciously upset by having failed and displeased him.” Radtiz responded thoughtfully.

“I don’t care if I displease Vegeta! I don’t!” Goku yelled, tail fur standing on end at the insinuation.

“Calm your tits.” Raditz told him, smacking him over the head for good measure. “And start showing some minimum of respect. You’re not earning yourself any friends or favors acting like a brat.”

“I’m not a brat…” Goku sulked, nursing the bump on his head.

“Then start acting like it.”

Raditz stood up. “Now let’s go eat something. It’ll be a while before we land anyway.”

Goku followed along happily at the promise of food, exited to start training once they got back on the base. He may not be able to keep a foot to the ground when it came to fighting Vegeta yet, but he had time, and Goku knew he could still get stronger. He’d get there.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The saiyans are all horrible gossips, and are pretty evenly split on whether Vegeta and Goku are gonna kill each other or mate. Money has been wagered.
> 
> Also, next chapter there’ll be a small time skip. So look forward to that. More characters are joining us.
> 
> Also also, I haven’t forgotten the folks on earth. They’re just not relevant, yet.


	9. A challenger enters the stage.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turles finally shows up to make trouble. Goku is not prepared. Raditz would like a divorce from consciousness for a while.

 

**2 months later**

Dilla hummed as she walked down the hallway while eating a fruit, on her way back from the mess hall to the med bay where she was studying under Dr. Basil, hoping to take her career further into the medical field.

From the other end of the hall a tired looking man approached, lost in his own thoughts. Dilla looked up from eating her piece of fruit when she noticed who it was. “Oh, hey Raditz. You’re looking ragged. Kakarot still dragging you into the gravity room on the daily?” She inquired.

Raditz looked up, startled by her presence. “I swear that boy isn’t normal.” He said with a haunted look. “I don’t know how the fuck I’m related to him.”

Dilla hummed. “Maybe you’re adopted?” She suggested.

Raditz sneered at her for the suggestion, before his eyes grew distant again. “I swear, ever since Vegeta banned him from missions and grounded him on base, Kakarot’s been acting like he’s possessed.”

Dilla scratched her hair. It was true that over the last two months her friend’s visits to her when she was in the med-bay or inviting her to sit with him when they were eating had become rarer and rarer. She didn’t know whether Vegeta having been gone for the last seven weeks had helped or just fuelled Kakarot’s obsession with catching up to the prince. “Well, looking at it from the bright side, you’re also getting some training in. Haven’t your battle power risen too?” She asked.

Raditz stood up properly and popped his back with a groan. He was just returning from a training session with his little brother, and he felt it. “Maybe so. Still, there’s something different about Kakarot compared to other saiyans. I don’t think he’s normal, exactly.”

“You say that all the time.” Dilla noted.

Raditz shook his head. “I’m being serious. His growth rate—It’s not normal. I haven’t seen anything like it since… Well, since Vegeta.”

Dilla shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Really? Well, that would make him a genius, wouldn’t it?”

Raditz sighed. “When it comes to battle maybe. Other than that… I think that hit he took the head as a kid may have knocked something loose. When he’s not training he’s the most random person I’ve ever met.”

Dilla laughed. “I like him, he keeps things interesting. Anyway, I won’t keep you any longer. If you hurry you can probably still get some of the roast in the mess.” She waved bye to Raditz and continued on her way. Only once she’d already rounded the corner did she remember Dr. Basil mentioning that he wanted to see Kakarot for an examination. Oh well, Kakarot had gotten better about using his wrist pad at least, and he could read easy messages in saiyan by now, so she’d just write him.

Raditz watched Dilla as she went, left behind, and gave another deep sigh before continuing to the mess hall. There had better be roast left considering the day, no, the _months_ he’d had.

xXx

Goku took a deep breath, focused, and did another series of somersaults and kicks. Around him the artificial gravity hummed, set on 60 times that of Earth right now. Goku wiped his forehead for all the good it did; he was completely covered in sweat. He glared at the screen displaying the gravity setting, biting his lip. He’d upped the number by about five a week at first, over the last two months, but he’d been frustrated with the slow pace and had over the last week gone from 40 to 60. It was a strain and something he still struggled to manage for more than ten minutes at a time. But despite his efforts, he was still nowhere near powerful enough to take Vegeta in battle; even though at this point Goku thought he’d probably manage to give the other saiyan a workout at least.

He went over to the wall and slumped down without turning off the machine. He was sore like one giant bruise already, and the weight in the room was stifling, but even existing under these conditions could be considered training. He grabbed for a water bottle and emptied it completely.

Training like this, forced to stay on base and still not allowed to contact his friends on Earth, was lonely. Even if Raditz joined him in training, the older saiyan still had his work in the communication department, and had even left for missions a couple of times. So Goku spent a lot of time on his own, not comfortable with the other saiyan alphas and scorned by most of the other betas for some reason. Only Dilla was usually willing to hang out with him, but she too had work, and besides that she’d only been willing to spar with him a couple of times in the beginning.

It didn’t help that most people on base were transient, only stopping after missions and then leaving again. There were many bases beside checkpoint 8 after all. To make matters harder yet, the other aliens on the station didn’t mingle much with saiyans, Goku had noticed, though over the last couple of months some of them had thawed to him, labelling him as ‘not as bad’ as the other saiyans.

His race was overall a pretty unfriendly bunch, Goku thought sullenly.  

Goku pulled his one knee up, resting his chin on it. He knew fighting an intergalactic war against a pirate empire was harder than just going up to Frieza and shooting him in the face, but Goku wished he understood more fully what they were actually _doing_. No one was particularly forthcoming though, writing him off as a ‘third class warrior’ something he’d learned by now was actually a status slur used by the elite. The saiyans apparently had some sort of caste system, even if it wasn’t as pronounced or enforced as before they split with Frieza, and Goku had been born at the bottom of it.  

He was starting to realise that it’d be hard to make people take him seriously, especially when he spoke of defeating Vegeta and joining the frontlines in the fight against Frieza.

Luckily the others’ disbelief only served to fuel Goku’s determination.

At least at this point the alphas had learned that Goku didn’t appreciate being called ‘adorable’ for his dedication. It had only taken kicking one particularly annoying alpha clear across the training room and through a wall for the point to stick. These days the alphas didn’t bother him as much anymore.

Just as he was about to re-start his training, his wrist pad beeped. Raditz and Dilla had both bullied him into the habit of wearing it, and he quickly checked the screen, figuring it was probably one of them. He hadn’t really managed to make friends with any other saiyans so far after all.

It turned out to be a message from Doctor Basil though, asking him to come to the med-bay for a check-up. Goku frowned. There wasn’t anything wrong with him as far as he knew. Not aside from the self-inflicted muscle soreness. Nevertheless he packed up, wiped himself off perfunctorily with a towel and turned the artificial gravity off before he went on his way.

He knocked on the door frame of the med-bay before entering. “Hey Doc, you wanted to see me?” Goku asked, causing the doctor to look up from his papers and stand.

“Ahh, Kakarot. That was quick. Yes, I just want to take some blood samples to check your hormonal level.” He assured as he showed Goku over to sit on the bed.

“Okay… But why? I feel fine.”

Doctor Basil found a syringe, making Goku cringe at the sight of the needle. “I know, but I find it important to keep track of you anyway. I still think that you should go into heat with no problems once your body is ready, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” He walked over to Goku’s side. “Plus, male betas are so rare that we hardly have any relevant or current data on them. So you’re an important study subject.” Doctor Basil told him, before sticking in the needle.

Goku had already looked away, trying to keep his nausea at the sight of the needle down. “I really don’t appreciate that.” He told the doctor with a wince.

“Nevertheless.” Basil said, retracting the syringe. “We must all sacrifice in the name of science.”

He went over to his machines and started running Kakarot’s samples. Meanwhile Goku massaged the arm he’d been stuck in, watching the doctor work.

“Have you heard anything about your active status yet?” Basil asked to make conversation.

Goku sighed. “No… Apparently I’m still seen as a liability, so aside from that one mission where they needed my ki control right after I got here, I haven’t been anywhere but on base.” Truth be told he was starting to become a bit claustrophobic, feeling somewhat like a hamster in a wheel in his day to day life.

“Hnn, that’s too bad. I hear the prince and the higher ranking teams are quite busy laying into Frieza’s forces. At least the ones stationed further out. Seems like they finally have information on their placements thanks to that mission you mentioned.”

Goku drew his knee up to rest his head on and sulk. “I wish I was at least allowed to go to some of the other bases. Raditz says I can only talk to my parents if I go to Base One, seeing as the shield interferes with long range transmissions.”

Doctor Basil printed Kakarot’s results, humming and placing them in his file. “Well, I heard prince Vegeta may come back here after his current mission. Perhaps he’ll change his mind once he sees the progress you’ve made in regards to battle power.”

Goku straightened up. “You really think so Doc?”

“Well you never know…”

Truth be told Basil wasn’t sure what the prince’s reaction would be to Kakarot’s exponential growth, but he was sure it wouldn’t go unnoticed. A third class possessing that kind of potential was completely unheard off; not even Bardock having grown so fast in his youth. Of course this was Bardock’s son, but even so. The boy had been born with a power level of just two, if the files were to be believed.

What worried Basil was that for a third class, that kind of power growth might not be appreciated. If Kakarot was unlucky, the saiyan elites could start viewing him as a threat. It had happened before.

Basil knew tensions on planet Vegeta were already running high, too little food and a lack of crops to support the trapped population. The saiyans had always been warriors, not farmers. After saving them all with his premonitions, the former low-level soldier Bardock had risen in rank and popularity to become a leader for the lower masses, much to King Vegeta’s consternation. It was an uneasy status quo between the elites and the people now, and Bardock’s child suddenly showing up with that kind of potential, and a beta to boot… It could upset the delicate balance between the fractions.

“Doctor…?”

Basil blinked himself back to the present at the hesitant voice, and turned around to see Kakarot watching him with a concerned expression. “Ah, I’m sorry. I’m afraid I lost myself in thought for a moment there. You’re free to go now Kakarot, unless there’s something you want to discuss?”

Goku shook his head and hopped off the bed. “Nope. I feel fine, so I guess I’ll go eat and see if I can find Raditz again.”

Doctor Basil chuckled. “Don’t run your brother too ragged. He still has to go off on missions.”

“I know, it’s unfair.” Goku complained while making for the doors.

Before he could exit Dr. Basil’s intercom system blinked to life, beeping to catch attention and informing them that the B-team’s main forces were about to dock on planet.

Basil frowned.

Goku perked up, unable to read the message in its entirety. “Is that a ship? Maybe it’s Vegeta… I’ll go see!” He said, running off.

“No Kakarot, wait!”

But Goku had already left, fast in his excitement.

Basil was left behind, hand still outstretched to stop the teen, and glancing nervously at the intercom screen.

It wasn’t Vegeta, but a troublesome person had indeed just arrived.

xXx

Goku made his way through the hanger where smaller ships and those that needed repair were kept, and out to the open docks where the big ships landed and came to rest.

A big ship had indeed just touched down, the air still warm with exhaust and the smell of fuel. Goku squinted at the sunlight, but couldn’t really tell if it was Vegeta’s ship or not. Most spacecrafts still looked the same to him.

Next thing Goku tried was to close his eyes and feel for Vegeta’s ki. It wasn’t there he quickly found, but the massive ki of someone almost just as strong as Vegeta _was._

Goku blinked his eyes back open, surprised, feeling a mix of perplexed and exited. Just how many strong people were there among the saiyans?

As he watched the door to the massive ship opened, air pressure hissing, and a line of figures started making their way down the extended ramp. At the forefront was a man whose appearance shocked Goku.

The man was taller than him, more muscular and darker skinned, but his facial features were disturbingly familiar. They looked a _lot_ like Goku’s own, albeit sharper. As the man walked closer Goku could tell that his jawline was also broader than Goku’s own, less boyish. But still, the resemblance was clear. Did he have a brother he didn’t know about? Goku wondered.

Suddenly the man’s dark grey eyes turned to him, and his expression settled into pleased surprise. “Well what do we have here.” He said, coming closer and pretty much immediately breaching Goku’s personal space.

Goku took a step back, surprised. “Uhh, a-are you perhaps—?”

“Shh.” The man placed a finger against Goku’s lips, shushing him. “If your next question was something like ‘are we related?’ the answer is no.” The man pulled his finger back with a smirk. “I can guess who you are from looking at you, and I compared my own DNA with Bardock’s in the data base a long time ago, just for curiosity’s sake.” He tilted his head. “So our shared good looks are coincidental.”

“O-oh…” Goku mumbled, thrown by the man’s presence and mannerisms. Behind the stranger, his team, this one consisting of more aliens than saiyans, watched them with bemusement.

“Ack no, I’m forgetting my manners.” The man said, smacking himself theatrically on the forehead. “My name is Turles, leader of team B and captain to my crew.” He looked Goku up and down with a smirk. “And you must be Kakarot. The pretty beta Vegeta decided to hide away here, all on your lonesome.”

“He didn’t hide me away.” Goku argued with a frown.

Turles took a step closer. “No? So he didn’t lock you up on base and throw away the key?” He smirked, reached out a hand and fingered a tip of Goku’s hair. “That must have been lonely and boring, being left here all on your own. No chance to fight, to _live_.”

Goku smacked Turles’ hand away, frowning at the team leader. “It’s because I don’t know enough yet. Vegeta has nothing to do with it.” He defended; miffed at the way Turles was talking to him.

Turles watched him, one eyebrow raised. Then he drew back, seemingly unbothered by Goku’s unfriendly attitude. Suddenly Turles body language changed to something more relaxed and open, instead of predatory like before.

The taller saiyan chuckled. “I guess you’re right. Sorry about coming on so strong, but I wanted to know if I still had a chance.” He said, scratching his hair with a half sheepish half mischievous smile.

“A chance of what?” Goku asked, bewildered by the change.

“Of courting you.” He grinned. “Sorry if it’s sudden, but I came here just to see what you were about, and I like what I see, so I won’t bother beating around the bushes.” He took a step closer, eyes growing dark, pupils expanding. “I came all this way just to see if the rumors about a male beta were true, but it seems like they didn’t do you justice. Your power is much higher than I was told to expect.”

Goku gaped like a fish. He’d never been approached so blatantly by an alpha before, and he didn’t know how to deal with it. Somehow Goku doubted punching Turles through a wall was the answer, least of all because the other saiyan was stronger than him, Goku could tell from just a glance of his ki. And Raditz wasn’t around anywhere near right now, which had always been Goku’s second ‘get clear of alphas’ card.

“Something got your tongue?” Turles teased when Goku just stared without responding.

“I-I’ve never courted anyone before—I don’t know what it means!” Goku finally burst out.

Turles lifted his eyebrows in surprise, then smiled. “Is that all?” He asked. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll show you.” He winked, then bent and picked up Goku’s hand, laying a kiss to the back of it.

“I need to settle in, but I’ll come find you later, trust me on that.” He promised, straightening back up with a smirk. He then waved his crew past the still flabbergasted Goku and into the base.

Goku stayed behind, frozen solid from the display a moment ago. He stayed where he was, still rooted and not processing what the hell had just happened, until one of the dock workers poked him harshly in the side and told him to move his ass to another area.

Goku got out of the way, but set a straight course for Dilla and Raditz, either one would do. Fights Goku could handle. Near deaths too. Maniacs bent on world domination? No prob.

An amorous alpha? Not so much.

He needed help.

xXx

 

Turles couldn’t help grinning as he left the shocked beta behind. Kakarot had been a much nicer surprise than anticipated. Originally Turles had only gone a little out of his way to land on checkpoint 8, hearing rumors on the grapevine of a new beta, a male one, and one that caught prince Vegeta’s attention no less. Sources had varied on just how involved the beta and the prince was, some stating it was a fling and others proclaiming them to be close to mating, but Turles had reserved judgement for when he could see for himself.

And what a sight. Kakarot was very pretty, features and body strong, but still feminine and curvy enough to be appealing, alluring even, though his youth definitely also had a hand in that. Turles had had his doubts, but after seeing the beta he didn’t find it so hard to imagine prince Vegeta showing an interest in him. Especially considering the power level Bardock’s progeny displayed.

Turles turned his head to Amond, his second in command. “Did my scouter deceive me or was that beta’s power level actually just past four thousand?” He inquired.

Amond hmm’ed. “Seems like. Strange though, the reports only said about a thousand.”

Turles tsked. “That’s why you shouldn’t trust gossip.” He muttered.

Still, maybe it actually hadn’t been wrong, Turles thought. So far he’d never heard the same power level subscribed to the beta twice, and even then there were also those who insisted that it fluctuated. Turles thought it sounded strange, but nevertheless, it was one of the things he’d come to see for himself.

“Are you really gonna court him boss?” Daiz asked from behind Amond.

Turles threw a smirk back at him. “Why not? I was gonna mess with him either way just to bother Vegeta, but the kid is actually strong. Outside of the elites he may actually be the strongest beta I’ve run into. Plus he’s not unappealing. It’d be a waste not to bag him.”

Daiz sniggered. “Won’t it be a bit too much like fucking a mirror?”

Turles grinned. “Diaz, Diaz… You say that like I wouldn’t enjoy doing so immensely.” He laughed, and his men all joined him in his humor as they walked towards the mess hall, eager to get something more substantial than space rations.

xXx

What people didn’t realize was that Raditz was on a mission. That he had actually been constantly on a mission since a little more than two months ago, when his assignment arrived, unconscious in a healing tank.

So far Raditz thought he was following prince Vegeta’s orders to play ‘attentive concerned big brother’ pretty well, but even then Kakarot still managed to be a daily test to Raditz’ patience and abilities.

See now, for example:

“RAADITZ! Raditz! Heeeelp me!” Kakarot banged into the coms station area with no regards for Raditz being at work, or the two of his colleagues who were present.  

Only his little brother’s voice being on the whinier and more panicked side instead of distressed let Raditz put down his work with a sigh instead of dropping it and jumping out of his chair.

“What now Kakarot. Shower try to eat you again?” He asked dully.

Kakarot had reached his side and was pulling at his sleeve by the shoulder. “There’s an alpha! He—“ He broke himself off, then restarted, seemingly re-deciding on where to begin his story.

“I’d gone to check at the dock because a new ship was coming in, but it wasn’t Vegeta, it was this other alpha, who was also really strong and kinda looked like me, and he said that he’s gonna court me and that he’s coming to find me so—“ He broke off to take a breath, having run out of air during his tirade. “—Help?” He finished, looking at Raditz almost beseechingly.

Raditz stared back at his brother’s stupid wide eyed face. “How the fuck—” Raditz stopped himself from yelling, pinched his nose and restarted in a calmer tone. “How the _hell_ did you manage to attract Turles attention just _minutes_ into him landing on base?!”

Kakarot shrugged. “I mostly just stood there.”

“Of course you did.”

Raditz felt the need to hit something repeatedly. Preferably his trouble magnet of a brother, or that asshole Turles—spreading shit from the second he landed, or even Vegeta, for saddling him with this torture in the first place.

“Okay.” Raditz stated, releasing his nose and taking a deep breath. “Did you agree to any of this?”

“To what?” Kakarot asked blankly.

“ _Courting_ , you moron.”

 Kakarot tilted his head right, then left, while cupping his chin thoughtfully. “I’m… Not sure? I kinda just said I didn’t know what it meant and then he said he’d show me? And then he said he’d come find me just before he left, so I didn’t manage to say anything to that.”

It wasn’t the refusal Raditz had been hoping for, but Kakarot also hadn’t verbally said yes, so… “Ignore him.” Raditz advised.

Kakarot frowned. “Is that all right? Will it work?”

Raditz sighed and looked up at his brother. “Quite frankly, I can’t fight him for you. Normally a beta can ask a relative or a friend to get rid of suiters in their place if they don’t feel like dealing with them or they just aren’t sure they can win, but Turles is the leader of B-team and I’m usually on D or C, depending on the mission, unless I’m doing communication or grunt work, so you do the math.” Raditz leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, pissed that he had to admit this. He was actually quite strong compared to an average third class, but there was still quite a gap between them and the elites. Usually at least…

Kakarot slumped, using Raditz’ shoulders as arm rests and placing his chin at the top of Raditz’ head. “But I don’t wanna deal with alphas.” He whined, draped over his brother.

Raditz shrugged him off, literally. “And I don’t want to deal with your daily drama, but we all have our burdens to bear. If you’re unsure what to do, ask Dilla. She’s a beta too for the gods sakes, isn’t this why betas make friends? To bitch to each other about alphas?” He wondered out loud, before pointing at the door. “She’s bound to know more about this than me, I’m sure. Now shoo, I don’t want overtime.”

Kakarot dragged himself off towards the door, and Raditz watched him go, chewing his cheek in indecision.

Just before Kakarot left, Raditz called out to him.

“Kakarot, about Turles… He may seem charming at times, but don’t trust a word out of his mouth. Stay away from him if you can.” He cautioned, unable to completely hide the worry in his tone.

Kakarot looked back at him, eyes turning sharper at his brother’s more serious tone. “I’ll be careful.” He promised, nodded to his brother, then left.

Raditz watched the door close behind him before turning his attention back to his not at all subtly eavesdropping coworkers. He sighed. Fantastic, now everyone would have _new_ gossip involving his brother to exaggerate.

At this point all Raditz could hope for was that Vegeta, wherever he was, had gotten over his strange preoccupation with Kakarot, or that the news just wouldn’t reach the prince.

But, Raditz thought with a grimace, he’d never been lucky.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ho boy. And a contester joins the ring.  
> Remember that Turles already makes Vegeta blow his lid, so the results of this should be amazing. 
> 
> Frankly Raditz deserves a blanket and a cup of coffee at this point; he never signed himself up for a younger sibling and is deeply unprepared.
> 
> Meanwhile Goku’s anaconda don’t want none unless it involves fighting him seriously and people who doesn’t call him ‘pretty’.


	10. Shall we dance?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turles is a sneaky and crafty bastard. Goku is rather willingly duped. Vegeta still knows nothing of all this, until he does…

 

Turles cornered Goku in the hallway towards the med-bay. He appeared suddenly enough that Goku had to skid to a halt, almost bumping into the other saiyan.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Turles inquired.

Goku had been trying to go see Dilla, hoping to get some advice from his friend. He hadn’t expected for Turles to find him so quickly. He tried to move around the other man without answering him, but Turles blocked his way again.

“Hey now, why are you being so cold all of a sudden?” Turles asked with an exaggerated wounded frown.

Goku huffed and moved back. “I’m going to see my friend. I never agreed to hanging out with you.”

Turles leaned against the wall, raising an eyebrow. “Really? That’s a shame. I’d thought we could spar.”

Goku narrowed his eyes, watching the other saiyan suspiciously. It was true his fingers itched to train with someone aside from his brother, whose power level Goku already knew he’d surpassed, and who’s fighting style he’d gotten used to. Still, he also remembered Dilla mentioning how fights between alphas and betas could be seen as flirting… Of a kind. Honestly saiyan customs still eluded Goku; though he could agree with the thrill of facing a strong opponent, and liked training towards a goal, he didn’t understand how the saiyans had managed to incorporate violence into so many aspects of their lives.

Turles learned forward with a leer. “Come on… Always wailing on your brother... Doesn’t it get boring? You can’t learn anything if the process and results are always the same.”

Goku almost found himself nodding, but hesitated. “It would just be sparring, right? No, uh, funny business?” He winced at the phrase but wasn’t sure how else to put his unwillingness to engage in alpha/beta stuff.

Turles held up his hands, expression agreeable. “If that’s what you want.”

Goku bit his lip, looked over his shoulder to where he’d left Raditz to his work and mentally apologized. He knew Turles was probably trouble, but he just couldn’t bring himself to pass up the chance to fight against someone so strong. It’d be valuable training experience.

He turned back to Turles, mind made up. “Okay. If it’s just sparring, then I’m in.”

Turles grinned, finally moving out of the way and holding out his arm to present the free hallway. “Then by all means lead the way. I guess we can start with using the indoors training area. It’s just _sparring_ , after all.”

Goku swallowed and moved past Turles with a nervous side glance. He suddenly got the feeling that he’d played into the other saiyan’s hand. He shook the thought from his head. No, Goku was getting something out of this too. Turles wasn’t as strong as Vegeta power level wise, but Goku knew that battle experience and fighting style meant a lot too; something he’d been coming to feel the saiyans and other aliens often forgot, too focused on a person’s perceived power level instead of the whole package, so to speak.

The training area wasn’t empty when they got there, but when people spotted Turles making for the sparring area they made themselves scarce. Goku watched them move with a thoughtful look before turning back to Turles, watching the taller saiyan remove his armor, leaving himself in the body tight suit beneath. “Aren’t you going to change?” He asked Goku.

Goku started stripping his armor too, knowing that there was no reason to make it suffer and break when it was a spar. If he got too hurt he’d simply go to the healing tanks.

Turles took a moment to appreciate Kakarot’s physique when free of his armor, but raised the shield as Goku stepped into the center of the sparring ring. To Goku’s surprise it then looked like a _second_ shield went up around the outside of the first, causing the shimmering light to change from light blue to a faint purple hue.

“What’s that?” Goku asked, eyes on the two layers of energy.

“Safety precautions. With power levels as high as ours going at it with just one shield may be a bit risky.” Turles replied.

“Hmm? All right then.” Goku shrugged. To be perfectly honest Goku wasn’t sure what his own power level was right now, preferring not to wear the scouters. Not only were they distracting when you weren’t used to them, you also risked falling into the habit of relying on them too much, something Goku would like to avoid. He’d grown up learning how to raise his own ki when he did battle, so the idea of everyone else in the universe aside from humans not knowing how to do so seemed unlikely to him. He admitted it could take years of training, but even so… He was actually surprised that the saiyans hadn’t seemed aware of it, especially with how quickly Vegeta had picked up on it. Then again, Vegeta was known to be an outliner born with an unusually high power level and a fighting prodigy to boot.

“Ready?” Turles asked. “I’ll go easy on you at first.” He promised

Goku snorted. “Don’t blame me if that backfires on you.” He warned, before kicking off and attacking with a series of punches.

Immediately Goku could tell the difference compared to fighting with Raditz. Where his brother these days struggled to block even half his attacks, Turles brushed them off easily with barely any wasted movement.

The dark skinned male simply dodged Goku’s punches and kicks for a while at first, trying to get a feel for his opponent’s skill. Goku let him fall into this false sense of security, knowing that he could go even faster and harder if he expended more ki, but not wanting to go all out right away either.

Turles finally flung Goku back with a well-timed kick, causing Goku to somersault in the air before landing back on his feet in a fighting pose.

“Not bad!” Turles laughed. “I guess I can be a little serious with you.”

Goku smiled. “I’m not being serious yet either.”

“Oh?” Turles grinned, showing his fangs. “You might wanna change that.” He warned, then attacked.

This time Goku was the one on the defensive, having to use a lot of energy and focus simply to dodge the other man’s attacks. He didn’t manage all the time, and had to block quite a few, which packed a punch. He managed to get a few hits in himself, gradually expending more and more energy while fighting back.

Turles didn’t notice the change, not having worn his scouter into the ring and not trained to read ki, but some of the spectators surrounding the ring wearing scouters did, and it caused a stir.

“Whoa!” Turles exclaimed, narrowly avoiding taking Goku’s ki powered fist to his face. He jumped back a distance, surprised smile still in place. “You’re quite experienced at this. I don’t understand why Vegeta is still keeping you on base; you’re clearly strong enough to be of use against Frieza.”

Goku took the compliment with a grin. “I’m hoping that’s gonna change soon too.” He said.

The two fighters walked around each other in a circle, both looking for openings. Turles eyed Goku thoughtfully. “Why don’t you ask to join my team then? As long as you request it to Staff and Division Control you’re likely to get a yes, considering your power level.”

Goku almost faltered on a step. “Really? You think I’m strong enough for B team?”

Turles personally thought that with a power level over 4000 Kakarot had a good chance to get himself placed on A team, but he had no desire for the beta to know that, given that Vegeta was the A team commander.

In fact Nappa, who was also on team A, and one of Vegeta’s direct subordinates was only a 4000 himself… Of course Vegeta was still a whole other kettle of fish when compared to the rest of his team, having a power level even higher than the King these days. 

Turles settled for keeping this quiet. “Sure! I mean, you might land the lowest rank until you learn the ropes, but then you’re in.” He encouraged.

Goku didn’t know what to think of that. He hadn’t considered which team he’d be placed on, probably subconsciously figuring that he’d end up together with Raditz. He settled for attacking Turles while the alpha’s guard was slightly down instead of coming up with an answer.

They got locked in hand to hand battle again, until Turles suddenly changed his fighting style. Instead of simply hitting and kicking like he had been doing, he started trying to grab Goku, holding him tight.

Goku immediately realized his disadvantage in this. There was no doubt that Turles was more muscled and overall physically stronger than Goku, so if Turles got him a body hold, Goku would be hard pressed to escape.

Nevertheless this seemed to be exactly what the other saiyan was aiming for. Turles upped his movement speed, done with fooling around, and quickly got behind Goku, grabbing him with his arms locked to his sides.

Goku cursed and squirmed to test the hold. He’d been able to follow Turles’ movements with his eyes but his body hadn’t managed to catch up.

Turles enjoyed having Kakarot squirming in his arms, and couldn’t help taunting the beta. “Are you gonna give up? Or do you want a longer hug.” He squeezed his captive to the point of pain, the choked scream made by Kakarot music to his ears.

Goku panted and grit his teeth against the pain after his initial outburst. He didn’t want the fight to end yet, and he didn’t want to give up. Feeling out of options he raised his ki, letting it engulf and explode around him with a yell, forcing Turles to let go and jump out of range.

Turles skidded to a halt on the other side of the arena, surprised. “What the hell?” He asked himself, eyes on Kakarot, the younger saiyan’s hair waving as if rustled by strong wind, eyes focused and fierce. That effect couldn’t be caused by pure energy, could it? Turles then noticed the commotion among the spectators. “Hey!” He called out to one of them. “What is his power level right now?”

A frog like alien looked up at him, eyes wide. “I-it’s almost 5000 sir, 4950 to be exact.”

Turles whirled back around to stare at Kakarot. Almost 5000? That was impossible! Turles had read him to be just around 4000 himself right after landing. Were the rumors about the boy raising his power level drastically really true?

Turles straightened up, eyes fixed on Kakarot. “Seems like there’s a lot more to you than meets the eye. Just how much power are you hiding?” He asked.

Goku powered down with a heavy intake and exhale of air. He felt his hair stop whipping about and his muscles un-tense. Raising his power suddenly and explosively like that was a new trick, one he was still developing, and it still wasn’t optimal. It was like the Kamehameha; quickly leaving Goku out of breath and energy.

“I’m not sure. It’s been going up the more I train.” He’d also noticed a definite difference after the couple of times he almost died. Zenkai boosts, as Doctor Basil had called them. But all his time spent in the gravity chamber and the brutal process he put his body through there on the daily had also had a strong effect.

Turles felt sweat slip down his temple. This boy… He simply wasn’t normal. Growth like that was practically unheard off. At this rate Kakarot actually had a chance to reach Vegeta’s level someday, assuming there wasn’t a natural cap to his growth.

“Do you know what power level you had when you first got here?” Turles asked, heart beating fast.

Goku looked upwards with a frown, trying to recall. “Maybe a bit past four hundred? I can’t really remember.”

That was insane, Turles thought. “He he he… Ha haHAHA!” He couldn’t help laughing, his blood rushing and excitement rising. This was wonderful. Kakarot was truly a gift, one ready for the taking. Turles had to make the beta his. With Kakarot and all his potential by Turles’ side, taking the honor of being the one to defeat Frieza might actually be in the cards. Who knew, perhaps they’d even do away with the bothersome elitist royal family of Vegeta afterwards too, taking the throne for themselves and their offspring.

It had taken Turles eating the fruit of the Tree of Might on several occasions until now to reach his current power. Something he’d been careful to keep secret from Vegeta and the elites. He couldn’t even imagine what would happen if he was to feed a fruit to Kakarot, only that the results would be amazing.

Goku watched the older saiyan laugh with some trepidation. He knew power levels were a big deal to saiyans, but this reaction was a first. “Uuuh, are we still gonna fight?”

Turles jerked his head back around to settle burning eyes on Kakarot. “Oh yes, lets. This time, don’t hold back.”

He was suddenly in front of Goku then, faster than Goku had been able to follow, and Turles’ attack hit him straight in the gut before he could do anything to protect himself. Goku was thrown backwards into the shield with a choked scream, bouncing off and landing on his hands and knees.

He struggled to get his breath back, then raised his head to glare at Turles.

The dusty skinned saiyan smirked back, teeth showing. “You wanted me to fight you seriously, now get up.” He demanded, curling a finger at Goku in a ‘come hither’ motion.

Goku got up, legs unsteady but blood pumping. No way he’d throw the towel in now. He charged with a yell, and the two fighters clashed, the resulting shockwave causing the first shield to bulge to contain it.

The fight got too fast to follow then, both saiyans running on bloodlust and instinct, and shooting power blasts with abandon; the ones not hitting their opponent being thrown back by the shield.

In the audience a yellow alien nudged a saiyan who was holding in a button on his scouter. “You filming this?” He asked, voice low.

“Hell yea.” The man responded. “Have been from the start. I was gonna watch this as training, but this is going straight to the higher ups.”

The yellow alien nodded his consent. Two low born saiyans displaying this amount of power all of a sudden, even if one was a team commander, had to be reported. They were clearly not being used to their full potential, at least the youngest, Kakarot, wasn’t.

“Just wait ‘til Vegeta sees this.”

xXx

Turles smacked the younger saiyan into the ground, floor cracking from the impact, and held him down. “Give up!” He demanded, sweat glistening on his skin and pulse throbbing. His side was bleeding and his one leg was trembling. Their power level may be different, but Kakarot was skilled and clever. He’d given Turles a real fight.

Kakarot snarled up at him, showing his teeth, but Turles tightened the hand he had around the beta’s throat and finally, the younger man went lax.

Turles lifted his eyebrows in question, and when Kakarot merely closed his eyes in defeat, Turles let go and stood up, looking down at the young man.

Goku groaned and struggled to get up and out of the minor crater on his own. He definitely needed a healing tank.

When it looked like Kakarot might collapse back, Turles reached out a hand and pulled him up fully the rest of the way.

“That was one hell of a spar.” Turles breathed, Kakarot leaning against him.

Goku chuckled. “Yea… Might miss dinner though.” He added with a wince.

“How bad?” Turles asked, wondering if he’d gone overboard. He felt Kakarot shake his head against his shoulder.

“I can walk with some support, I think.” He didn’t make any motions towards moving from where he was leaning rather heavily against Turles’ chest and shoulder though. Turles smiled, pleased by this.

“Here, I’ll get you to the tanks.” He offered, moving Kakarot’s arm around his own shoulder and neck. “Lean on me.” He ordered.

The shields were dispelled by a voice command from Turles, the gathered audience too stumped to do it for them. The pirate then started to lead the exhausted beta towards the med-bay.

“Don’t worry about dinner, I’ll bring you some.” Turles told him when they’d almost reached the med-bay, thinking about how that was actually all turning out much better than he’d dared hope for.

Saiyan courting wasn’t much more complicated than the couple spending time together, fighting to take measure of each other and the alpha bringing food and fresh kills to prove himself able to provide while the beta was laid up by potential young. Kakarot didn’t seem aware of it, but so far he’d been very obliging to Turles.

“Thanks. I’m always hungry after healing.” Goku mumbled, head hanging and watching with bleary eyes how he dripped blood on the floor as they moved.

“I’m the one who put you in this state, so don’t worry about it. It’ll make me feel better too.” Turles assured, wanting to make sure Kakarot would accept his offerings when he brought them. “Tell me your favorites and I’ll try to get them.” He offered, as they rounded the doorway and entered the med-bay. Only to be met by a high pitched shriek.

Goku lifted his heavy head with some struggle to find Dilla standing, papers falling around her, pointing an accusing finger from Turles to Goku and back.

“Wh-wh-what the hell?!?” She shrieked again.

“Hi Dilla. Sorry, but it looks like I need the tank again.” Goku tried to smile, feeling how it pulled on his split lip.

Dilla gaped at Goku, before turning an accusing glare at Turles. “I imagine you had something to do with this?” She asked icily.

Turles showed his teeth, eyes challenging. “Kakarot agreed to spar, I only indulged him.”

Dilla snorted derisively. “I’m sure.” She replied coldly, before taking over supporting her friend and leading him to a tank.

“Sorry Dilla, I know you’re mad that I get hurt so often.” Goku apologized as his friend settled him into the tank.

Dilla shook her head. “It’s not your bad habits but your company I take issue with right now.” She said, putting the breathing apparatus over Goku’s face before he could inquire why. “I’m not sedating you this time. You can damn well use your time in there to think about your actions.” She told him, before closing the chamber. Kakarot sent wounded puppy eyes after her, finding it extremely boring to be in the healing tank awake, but Dilla ignored him.

When the tank had filled Dilla whirled around, stalking back over to the doorway, where Turles still stood, and glared at the commander.

“Whatever game you think you’re playing with him, I’m onto you. And if you think you’re not going to get your ass handed to you for using him, then you have another thing coming.” She hissed at the alpha.

Turles crossed his arms, leaned on the doorway and smirked back. “Who says I’m just using him?”

Dilla snorted, rolling her eyes. “Oh please. You’ve had countless lovers and you’ve never taken any of them serious.”

Turles shrugged. “And they knew that before getting involved with me. It’s unfair to judge me based on that. Especially since I’m quite serious about Kakarot.”

“Oh really.” Dilla said dully, not believing the sleazebag one bit.

Turles widened his eyes innocently. “Really.” He stated. “Why is it so hard to believe that even I would want to have a mate and a couple of kids one day when the right beta came along?”

Dilla crossed her arms, uncomfortable with this shift in Turles normal behavior and not believing of it. “You’ve got other motives too, I’m sure.” She told him. Dilla had unfortunately gotten quite familiar with Turles twisted personality, having been on missions with his team where she acted as an apprentice medic, not that she expected Turles to remember.

Turles shrugged. “In the end it’s up to Kakarot whether to believe me or not, not you.” He smiled. “And so far he seems rather easy going.”

Dilla bristled. “Then you really don’t know him very well yet.” She wanted to say more, but didn’t want to inadvertently help the alpha in the pursuit of her friend.

“But I’m going to change that.” The pirate promised, before leaving with a smirk, knowing that he was more likely to get proper treatment aboard his own ship.

Dilla glared after the man as he left, before walking back over to Kakarot’s healing tank and staring at her resting friend. She bit her lip. She’d never expected Turles to show up and take an interest in Kakarot. Sure, she may enjoy listening to Kakarot’s alpha troubles, amused by his unique take on getting rid of unwanted attention, but Turles wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded. Add to that what she’d witnessed between Prince Vegeta and Kakarot, when the prince brought back the unconscious beta after their mission and had caringly placed him in a healing tank, and they might have a real shit storm on their hands.

She went over to her desk, picked up her scouter and slapped it on. She pressed the call button.

“Hey Raditz, it’s Dilla. I think we need to talk.”

 

xXx

 

**Space, close to a newly desecrated army of Frieza’s ships:**

Vegeta watched as wreckage and remnants of broken bodies floated peacefully past the ship’s windows, the stars a twinkling background to the massacre. They were making good progress in cutting into Frieza’s forces, able to attack those furthest out, their positions revealed by the still active spy chip.

When he’d placed the chip, Vegeta had never dared hope for such positive results. Not only were the chip still active, not being discovered despite the time passed, but it had allowed them to build a firm knowledge of Frieza’s forces, bases and movements. It had proved invaluable.

Vegeta was sure that he had the fact that no one had ever discovered that he’d been near Frieza’s ship on Gultark to thank for that. But it wouldn’t last much longer; Frieza was getting wise to their movements, their attacks too coordinated.

For now the tyrant perhaps thought he had a traitor in his midst; it had happened before after all, Vegeta thought with a smirk. Personally Vegeta hoped that the ice demon would waste time, effort and lives of his own men trying to flush out the ‘traitor’. As long as he was, the chip remained, and Vegeta could hunt him from the shadows, striking when and where the scaly bastard least expected it.

Still, it was frustrating. Attacking and destroying his forces might annoy and inconvenience the pirate lord, but it wouldn’t mean an end to Frieza.

Vegeta sighed and turned away from the window when he heard footsteps approaching fast. Moments later an officer burst into his office. Vegeta raised his eyebrows at the audacity of the man, but the newcomer didn’t seem to notice, going down on one knee immediately after entering and holding out a disc.

“My prince. You have to see this. Someone sent us this from Checkpoint 8.” He said, out of breath.

Vegeta wondered what the fuss was about for a moment before the base name registered. “Checkpoint 8?” He repeated. That was where he’d left Kakarot, hoping to keep the beta from attracting trouble and from distracting Vegeta.

He snatched the disc out of the officer’s hand, turning it over in his palm with a frown and making his way to the screens, putting it in so he could watch the content. He heard the officer stand up behind him.

“It’s a video recorded by one of the foot soldiers.” He explained. “The attached text shows power readings taken during the fight.”

 _‘Fight?’_ Vegeta wondered, pressing play with a frown.

Immediately his expression grew darker when Turles appeared on screen. What was that low-life doing on Point 8? He wasn’t supposed to be there, Vegeta was quite sure. Even if he didn’t make a habit of keeping track of all team captains’ positions, he usually made sure to make a note of Turles’, especially because the occasionally reformed pirate had a disturbing tendency towards, and skill when it came to, disappearing.

The next few frames made him even angrier. Apparently the pirate was planning to fight Kakarot, going as far as to put up two shields. “Is he planning to kill him?” Vegeta wondered out loud, thinking of the disparity between Turles’ and the beta’s power levels.

“That’s what caught our attention. But try to take a look at the power readings.” The officer suggested.

Vegeta did, his eyes growing wide. “This can’t be right.” He stated. Those numbers were ridiculous. Kakarot had only been about a thousand in battle power when Vegeta left, him growing this much in such a short amount of time was simply…

Vegeta turned around. “Has this been checked for error?” He demanded.

The officer bowed. “Yes sir. We had our analysts look at it first. There’s no mistake.”

Vegeta clenched his teeth, turning back to watch the battle, following Kakarot’s movements with his eyes. “Does my father know of this?”

“No sir, the King has yet to be informed.”

Vegeta nodded, slightly relieved. “Good. Keep it like that; it’s an order. I’ll inform him myself.”

Once he’d confirmed it with his own eyes that was. Vegeta wasn’t letting class differences get in the way of him figuring out Kakarot and using the beta to the best of his abilities. He couldn’t allow that to happen here, on the outside, cut off from a fresh supply of troops. No child born on Planet Vegeta since the shield could leave the planet, and none had been born on the outside so far, at least no full-blooded saiyans.

It looked like Kakarot was indeed too valuable to dispose of, regardless of his father’s worries about the lower classes rise towards power. For Vegeta it only seemed natural that the strongest would stay on top, and the strongest included himself, so he had no reason to be worried.

On screen he watched the battle reach its climax, the movements getting too fast for the recording to pick up, and the flashes from power blasts obscuring it further. Only Kakarot’s mysteriously high power level blinking in the corner was visible, causing Vegeta to frown harder.

When it was finally done, Vegeta watched how Kakarot had ended up in a crater, which wasn’t unexpected taking Turles’ power and experience into account, but what he witnessed next made his blood boil.

When Kakarot struggled to get up Turles bent down and helped him up from the crater, pulling the beta into a half embrace. Kakarot came to rest against Turles’ chest and shoulder, relaxing against the alpha as they talked, their voices too low to be picked up by the scouter recording, but there was no mistaking the sight of their smiles and the quiet shaking caused by Kakarot’s pleased laughter.

Vegeta saw red, and somehow, before he knew it, his fist had ended up imbedded in the now smoking and sparking dead screen.

“Pr-Prince V-Vegeta?” The officer stammered, freaked out by the display of rage.

Vegeta breathed heavily and pulled his fist out of the machinery, glass falling to the ground. When he spoke, his voice was a growl.

“Turn the ship around. We’re going to Checkpoint 8.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may be more a case of Vegeta seeing green rather than red, if you catch my drift. His view of Turles and Goku’s interactions at the end of the video is definitely also influenced by this. Poor screen though, way to shoot the messenger, Vegeta.
> 
> If you’re curious, you can try looking up power levels through the sagas. http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_power_levels 
> 
> It’s pretty interesting, even if I’m not playing completely by it. It’s also important to remember that originally the only thing which allowed Goku to defeat Vegeta in their first fight was the kaioken, which Goku doesn’t have the benefit in this timeline, because he never died, and this being 5 years earlier and what not… Still, he’s surrounded by a lot of strong people, and he’s heavily motivated. Unlike the original timeline he’s not resting on his laurels, so he’s making up for the lack behind, slowly but surely. 
> 
> For fun comparison King Vegeta’s stated power level is 10,000 and Vegeta’s is 18,000 when he’s just chilling, and 180,000 when he goes Oozaru. So yea…


	11. Just a little test.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goku gets his teenage rebellion on. Which is sorta fair, considering that he *is* one.  
> Turles is pleased, Vegeta isn’t, and there's more saiyan flirting.

 

After Goku had healed up, he’d sort off been hoping to avoid Dilla, or at least his big brother, knowing that both would be angry with him for going along with Turles. He had no such luck though; Dilla was waiting on him right outside the tank when the chamber had finished emptying.

As Goku crawled out, he spotted Raditz too, sitting in a chair by Dilla’s desk and glowering in Goku’s direction.

“Uh, hey guys…” Goku laughed nervously.

Dilla stepped forward. “Kakarot. I know I can’t decide who you let court you, but Turles? That’s a bad idea. He’s Trouble, with a capital T.”

Raditz grunted and stood up. “She might not be able to decide for you, but I’m telling you right now little brother; I will absolutely throw your ass into a cell and throw away the key until Turles leaves if that’s what it takes.”

Goku blinked, looking between his brother and his friend. “Aww, come on. You don’t need to worry like that guys. I can handle him on my own.” The task didn’t seem so daunting after sparring with Turles, the alpha was strong, true, but Goku wasn’t controlled by his instincts. He wouldn’t go all beta-gaga over the older saiyan or whatever it was his brother seemed to expect.

Dilla frowned and looked to Raditz who was face-palming at his brother’s naivety. “That attitude is exactly what I was worried about.” He said, looking back up. “Turles is a manipulator, Kakarot. He’ll draw you in, then hook you when you least expect him to.” Raditz warned.

Goku chuckled. “You’re being dramatic. I’m not getting drawn or hooked anywhere.” His stomach rumbled. “Unless it involves dinner.” He briefly thought of how Turles had promised to bring him something to eat, but shrugged it off. The alpha might not be healed yet, and even if he were, Dilla and Raditz were sure to try and chase him off.

“This conversation isn’t done.” Raditz growled as he watched Goku move towards the door, still only dressed in his ripped body suit. There was nothing in the world likely to distract Kakarot from food, least of all propriety.

“Then let’s talk while we eat.” Goku suggested, tail wagging cheekily in his wage, expecting his brother and Dilla to follow.

Dilla looked at Raditz and shrugged, frown still concerned, while Raditz huffed angrily before following.

The mess hall was cramped when they got there, most of the base present around eating time today, and they had to squeeze their way towards the food distribution line, the buffet already mostly picked clean.

They got their trays filled and found a corner table, sitting down and wasting no time stuffing their faces, despite their argument still being un-concluded.

As they ate, Turles finally entered, fully healed, from the opposite end of the room, cohorts behind him. He looked around the room until his eyes found and locked with Goku’s, who’d noticed his presence; but after seeing the hostile faces on either side of his target, Turles just shrugged and sent Goku an apologetic smile. He mimed ‘Later’, and winked, before going to get his own food.   

Raditz growled at the sight of the smug pirate. He finished chewing and turned to his brother. “Say Kakarot, I know this alpha on D-team named Beeto; strong fighter, not insane. How about courting with him? I know he only meets one of your apparent criteria, but we all have to settle eventually.”

Dilla snorted so hard from mirth that she started choking on her bread. Goku just sent Raditz a dull unimpressed look, then ignored his older brother for the rest of the meal, despite Raditz muttering disbarring comments about space thieves and unbalanced royals the entire time.

xXx

Raditz stuck like glue, annoying and judgemental glue, to Goku’s side for the rest of the day; only leaving him alone once it was time to sleep. Their rooms were close, but Goku valued finally getting his peace, practically slamming the door behind him after he entered.

Goku fell onto his bed with a sigh. He didn’t get what the big deal was. So what if Turles had intentions towards him? Goku didn’t have to go along with them.

Feeling too tired to go to the public bathrooms and do his evening routine, Goku dozed off still dressed, only to be woken some indeterminable time later by careful knocking on his door.

Goku rolled over and squinted towards the noise. Who’d visit him this late? He stood up and shuffled over, still feeling sleep drunk.

It turned out to be Turles, of course. The commander leaned on the doorjamb, smile secretive.

“Turles? What are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night.” Goku whispered, with a glance towards his brother’s room.

Turles held up a net-bag full of fruit, and Goku recognized the purple spiky skin of some of them.

“Are those kironge? I really like those.” Goku said, feeling more welcoming towards his nightly visitor at the sight of food.

Turles nodded. “Heard they were your favorite.” He handed the net-bag over to Goku. “I felt bad that I couldn’t keep my promise to you earlier today, but your brother didn’t seem like he’d appreciate my company, so I thought I could bring you some different things now.”

Goku examined the content of the bag, noticing there were several different kinds of fruit in there and some snacks. “Thanks!” He exclaimed happily.

Turles chuckled. “Glad you like it.” He stood; arms crossed, and looked down at the younger saiyan, who was looking through the bag, with a fond expression. “Say…”

“Hmm?” Goku inquired, his mouth full, having already taken a bite out of his gifts.

“I thought we could go somewhere together tomorrow, I wanted to show you something.” Turles said. “Think you can get away from your brother?”

Goku tilted his head, thinking it over. He could probably get away from Raditz, but… “What do you wanna show me?” He asked, unsure if it was worth it to go.

“It’s a secret. Think of it as a surprise.” Turles replied with a wink.

Goku pursed his lips. He had to admit that he was curious… “Okay I guess.” He finally agreed, figuring he could always leave if whatever it was proved to be boring.

“Great!” Turles exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Come find me at my ship once you shake your guard dog?”

Goku shrugged. “Sure.”

Turles leaned forward, looming a bit, and smiled at him expectantly, still standing there and just not leaving, despite the hour. Goku wondered if there was something else the older man wanted? Personally Goku wanted to sleep.

“So, uh, thanks for the fruit? See you tomorrow?” Goku tried.

Turles smile wavered for a second, but he seemed to shrug it off, standing back, smirk back in place. “Sweet dreams Kakarot.” He purred, before slowly leaving, backing for the first few steps and keeping eye contact until he had to turn around.

Goku watched him go, tickled by his behavior, but not particularly bothered. The fruit and the attention were sort of nice… He shook his head, shaking the thoughts off. ‘ _Focus’_. He told himself. _‘Your goal is to get stronger, help defeat Frieza and go back to Earth.’_   

With this in mind he went back to bed, finally pulling his clothes off. He curled up around his pillow and tried to go back to sleep, pretending that he wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow.

**xXx**

Goku didn’t _think_ his brother was psychic, but it was like Raditz had some sort of sixth sense which had told him to stick to Goku for the day, and because of this they made it until noon without Goku finding any chance to slip away.

Goku was in the mess hall again, beside his brother, also again. He was stabbing his fork rather violently into his potato like greens, sulking and feeling foiled. Beside him Raditz was talking with another couple of saiyans who’d joined them, though Goku wasn’t really paying attention. He could still feel Raditz glance at him every now and again though.

“—So this guy, he just thinks he can come waltzing in with a fresh kill and everyone will swoon, but in my opinion he’s got another thing coming if he thinks any beta will give him the time of day, right Kakarot?”

“Huh?” Goku blinked.

Raditz frowned. “You weren’t paying attention… Where’s your head at today? I swear you’re even more spaced than usual.”

Goku was about to answer, probably by complaining about his brother trying to control his life, when a familial flicker of ki sparked in the corner of his awareness. Goku lost whatever he was about to say and whirled around, watching the entrance of the mess hall with rapt attention.

Just as he started thinking he’d imagined it, the automatic doors hissed open and Vegeta entered, Nappa and his highest ranking officers at his back.

A hush fell over the mess, people surprised by their prince’s sudden appearance, before some started calling out welcomes and cheers over another completed elite mission. The lively yells and greetings quickly rose in noise level, but Vegeta seemed to be ignoring it all, his coal black eyes running a sharp and searching look across the room.

Finally his gaze settled on Goku, and beside him Goku felt Raditz and his friends freeze up. Vegeta cut a straight line towards their table, ignoring any comments or questions thrown his way. He came to a stop in front of Goku, and took in the beta’s body and neck with a searching expression. Whatever it was he’d been looking for, Vegeta soon focused on Goku’s face again.

“Stand up Kakarot, you’re coming with me.” Vegeta ordered, when he finally seemed to have looked his fill.

Goku opened his mouth to demand why, but a sharp elbow from his brother prevented him from questioning their superior’s orders, and Goku got up silently with a frown instead.

Vegeta nodded, seeming pleased that the younger saiyan hadn’t challenged his order, and motioned for Goku to follow along, before turning on his heel and marching back out of the mess.

Goku walked behind Vegeta, but quickly felt Nappa and another couple of officers fall into step behind him. It made him feel a bit fenced in.

Vegeta led them, not to a briefing room as Goku had expected, but to the training room; the sparring arena, to be specific.

The saiyan prince unfastened his red cape and threw it on the floor, before stepping into the ring. When Goku hesitated, unsure what he was expected to do, Vegeta motioned impatiently for the beta to join him.

Goku stepped into the ring too, facing Vegeta uncertainly.

Vegeta smirked, but his eyes were hard. “I’ve been getting some interesting reports on you, Kakarot. Apparently _,_ you have managed to quadruple your battle powers, not once, but _twice._ ”

Goku watched him, not saying anything.

“Well, is this true? I know I can’t count on the scouter readings when it comes to you. Speak up!” Vegeta demanded, fists clenched.

“…I guess it’s gone up, yea. I train a lot.” Goku allowed.

Vegeta snorted. “Simple training shouldn’t allow a third class such as yourself to grow so exponentially. You must have found some sort of trick.”

Goku tilted his head with a frown. “I almost died a couple of times, as you know. Dr. Basil said that helped raise my power, but otherwise it’s really just training.”

Vegeta watched the younger male, eyes narrowed. He didn’t appear to be lying. _‘Impossible.’_ He thought. _‘Someone not of the elite having this kind of natural skill…’_

“Fine!” Vegeta called, stepping closer and motioning for his officers to raise the shields. “I’ll test you myself then. Let’s see just how much you’ve truly grown!”

Goku felt his eyes and mouth open in shock. He’d thought when Vegeta had led them to the sparring area—but he’d never truly expected—“Really?” Goku exclaimed, feeling his heart start pumping wildly.

Vegeta smirked. “Yes. Let’s try to see if you can last at least a full minute.” He laughed. “Hell, if you manage to land a hit to my face I’ll even congratulate you.” He taunted.

“Hmpf. I don’t need it!” Goku replied, getting into a fighting stance.

The shields shimmered to life around them as the two fighters glared at each other from opposite sides of their arena.

Outside people were quickly tickling into the training room to watch, Raditz included. No one had wanted to miss this after someone had come running into the mess, loudly yelling where the Prince had led Bardock’s son.

The room quickly filled up, and at last, once the flood stopped, a lone figure slipped in.

Turles expression was grim as he found a place on the outskirts of the crowd to watch. He hadn’t expected Vegeta to arrive so quickly, much less for the prince to drag Kakarot into a duel to “test his powers”. Turles didn’t know who Vegeta thought he was fooling, the royal saiyan was completely transparent with his interest in Kakarot, and it pissed Turles _off_. He’d hoped to have at least a couple of weeks to slowly charm Kakarot and draw him in, but at this rate he would have to hurry his plans along, becoming rather more forceful. He’d have to take a bet on Kakarot not running away and straight into the arms of Vegeta, but Turles didn’t have much other choice.

 

Inside the ring Vegeta didn’t bother to get into a stance. He simply crossed his arms with a smirk, watching and waiting to see what the weaker saiyan would do.

Goku felt sweat gather in his hairline. Vegeta wasn’t even in a stance, but he didn’t have any openings at all. Goku breathed deeply to calm himself, waited for the opportune moment and—There! Goku took off, flying forwards and aiming a punch at Vegeta’s face, which the prince easily evaded with a tilt of his head. Goku didn’t let up though, immediately following up with a series of fast hits. Vegeta dodged them, until one got close enough that he actually had to bring up his hand to block it. “Not bad.” He remarked.

Goku jumped back, knowing he couldn’t afford to be locked in close battle, but Vegeta followed quickly, raining hits and kicks down on his opponent.

Much to Vegeta’s surprise, Kakarot actually managed to doge or block him, and though the prince didn’t lose the smirk on his face, he realized that the beta was stronger and more experienced than he had anticipated. He might not have to hold back as much as expected.

Vegeta disengaged and used his speed to get behind Kakarot; the younger man loosing track of him and looking back and forth wildly. Vegeta then aimed a hit at Kakarot’s head from behind, but the younger saiyan sensed him and dodged the attack with a forward roll.

Goku put distance between them and quickly got up from his controlled fall, whirling around to face Vegeta again, determined not to lose track of him a second time. The older saiyan was fast, no doubt, but Goku’s eyes were keen. He just had to get used to the speed.

Vegeta didn’t give him time to catch his breath though, disappearing and reappearing right in front of him within the blink of an eye. Goku managed to doge and block the first five attacks, but the sixth got him in the gut, and he was thrown back, hitting the first shield with force enough to make it bulge.

Goku gritted his teeth against the pain, and hurried to get away from the shimmering wall, not wanting to be cornered. Vegeta followed his escape with a laugh, quickly catching up and aiming another powerful hit at Goku’s head. “Say goodnight!”

Goku saw it coming, but couldn’t manage to dodge it completely. Instead he followed the direction of the hit, lessening the impact that way, but still skidding across the floor to end up at the other side of the ring. He got back to his feet and faced Vegeta again, ignoring his still smarting ribs and now temple. He wasn’t going to give up this early in the game.

Still, Vegeta was a lot better than he could have ever imagined. It sent chills down his spine and raised the hair of his tail. He might be too strong for Goku to win, but he’d give the alpha a run for his money still.   

Vegeta watched how Kakarot didn’t show any fear or signs of backing down, and laughed. “Is that all? I was hoping for a more interesting fight. Or is this really as much as you’ve grown?”

Goku smirked at him. “I’m not done yet.” He promised, before clenching his muscles and concentrating, still keeping his eyes locked on Vegeta. He’d hoped not to use this new technique so soon, but it seemed like he had no choice. With a yell Goku surged his energy, spiking his ki as much as he could stand, and watched as the smirk fell off of Vegeta’s face.

Goku knew Vegeta would be able to sense the increase in Goku’s ki, but he didn’t give the older saiyan time to process it. He quickly fired an energy shot at the alpha, following the trajectory of the shot himself and landing a powerful punch to Vegeta’s face as the other man jumped to avoid the blast.

Vegeta was thrown back, expression shocked, and Goku followed him with punches to his opponent’s torso and stomach, which all connected due to the prince’s daze. Hoping to take advantage, Goku pulled back a hand to power up a shot, but at the same time, Vegeta seemed to regain his wits.

Vegeta disappeared, and reappeared on the other side of the ring, behind Goku, seemingly unfazed. “That technique you just used is a pretty cute trick, but I’ve seen you do it before. Don’t think you have any chance to win this if that’s all you’ve got up your sleeve.”

Goku turned around fast, teeth gritted. Aside from the Kamehameha, he didn’t have anything else he thought would cause much damage to Vegeta, and for the Kamehameha to work it needed to hit… But maybe… Goku smiled and raised his fists, ready for more.

Vegeta snorted, tilting his head as he watched Kakarot smile. Did the boy truly have no clue just how vast their power gap was? In that case Vegeta would show him, just a little.

“Guess you’re still planning something. Too bad it won’t work. Let me show you just a bit of why it’s impossible for you to defeat me.” With a mocking laugh Vegeta closed his eyes, let go of his inner restraints and let his power rise. His energy surged as he levitated upwards, causing the air to grow heavy and the very earth to shake, shields flickering and struggling against the massive power surge.

Across the ring, Goku struggled not to fall to his knees. Around Vegeta blue lightning seemed to spark, the floor disintegrating beneath him. Goku felt himself start to shake. This was—The gap was so vast it was frightening. The mere pressure of Vegeta’s power was enough to force Goku back, lest he be thrown.

Vegeta laughed as he watched Kakarot struggle against the pressure, but ultimately stopped expelling his power, settling back down on the broken ground with a smirk. Kakarot watched him nervously. It seemed like the boy was finally starting to get just how different they were from each other.

“Try to dodge.” Vegeta advised with a grin.

Goku watched Vegeta blink out of existence, the alpha’s movements so fast now that Goku was unable to follow. Without ever laying eyes on his opponent, Goku was hit from behind and thrown across the ring with great force, but instead of hitting the shield, Vegeta was suddenly in front of him again, having moved faster than Goku had flown. He hit Goku for a second time, sending him flying backwards again with a scream of pain.

While he was still flying, Goku sensed a power attack and opened his eyes just in time to evade the violently red blast aimed at his torso, but the shot still ripped apart and disintegrated the whole right side of his armor and clothes. His frantic doge caused him to smack into the first shield, full force, and Goku felt himself slump down to the ground beside it, unable to catch himself.

Knowing that Vegeta wasn’t likely to play nice, Goku struggled up with the use of his left arm, hissing against the pain in the right. It seemed like he had been hit there after all. He could smell blood, but he didn’t want to look and be distracted. As he got to his knees Vegeta landed in front of him, looking down at him with a superior smirk. “You see? Your struggling is futile.” The prince told him.

Goku glared back, unwilling to concede like this. Thinking of his plan from before he was injured, Goku ignored the pain in his arm and shoulder and quickly brought up both his hands to his forehead, catching a last look of Vegeta’s intrigued expression before closing his eyes and yelling “SOLAR FLARE!”

White light filled the room, blinding everyone with its power. Goku brought down his hands and channeled his ki.

“Ka-me-ha-me-HA!!!” He yelled, firing the powerful shot at the prince.

Vegeta was thrown back, engulfed by the energy, and an explosion followed, the first shield disintegrating under the force and the second barely keeping the spectators safe from the blast.

Some of the people in the audience screamed in surprise, but silence fell as the light disappeared and the dust started to settle, revealing the totaled ring and the two fighters: Goku who had gotten up and was holding his one shoulder in pain, wheezing from exhaustion, and on the other side of the destroyed area… Vegeta.

The prince’s clothes were ripped to shreds, and shallow cuts covered his body, blood leaking out. His expression was blank as he slowly raised his head to look at Goku.

“Kakarot…”

Then, as clouds covering the sun, fury filled his expression. “You _dare!?”_

Goku braced himself, but there was nothing he could do. Vegeta was across the ring and had him by the throat before he could even think of trying to dodge.

Vegeta growled, teeth showing, as he lifted Kakarot up in the air, arm muscles bulging, crushing the beta’s windpipe despite the younger man grabbing hold of his lower arm to ease the pressure.

“ _Ve—Vege—ta_ …” Kakarot gasped, tears starting to leak from his honey brown eyes as he struggled for air.

Vegeta squeezed a bit harder, but then let go. He hadn’t started this fight to kill the younger man. He eased his grip and lowered Kakarot to the ground until the boy was lying flat, settling over the beta’s body and holding him down with a hand to his uninjured shoulder.

“Give up.” Vegeta told him. He was impressed by the fight Kakarot had put up against him, but there was no reason to drag out this farce. The result had been decided from the start, and Vegeta felt like he had gotten a good impression of Kakarot’s abilities. The teenager had certainly grown, that much he would admit.

Kakarot looked up at him, mouth open and wet as he gasped for air, lips red. The peach pale skin of his throat was already starting to bruise, and Vegeta couldn’t help thinking Kakarot made for a pretty sight, lying bloodied and defeated beneath him like this.

Goku knew it was over, and it frustrated him that he still had so far to go, but he wasn’t dissatisfied with the fight. Before Goku could think about it, he started baring his neck, only to remember himself and freeze, whirling his head back around to see if Vegeta had caught his motion before Goku could stop it. Judging by the prince’s wide eyes, he had.

They stared at each other motionlessly for a minute, before the second and last shield was dispelled and Nappa walked into the circle. “Is it over?” He asked, having not noticed Goku’s slip into mating behavior.

Nappa’s appearance caused Vegeta to snap out of his surprise, and he turned to glare at older man. “Obviously you oaf.”

Goku used Vegeta’s distraction to push the prince off of him and hurry, as much as he could despite his injuries, out of the ring and into the crowd, collapsing against Raditz as soon as he found him, his brother being easy to make out thanks to his height. “Take me to the med-bay, please.” Goku begged, mortified by his own actions.

All this time he’d told himself he just wanted to fight Vegeta for the thrill and experience of it, and that his instincts when it came to being a beta had no influence on him, just for this to happen… Goku squeezed his eyes shut, nauseated with himself, and felt Raditz put an arm around him, leading him out of the room.

Vegeta watched Kakarot leave, the beta hunched into himself and much more subdued than Vegeta had ever seen any physical injury make him. It was clear that Kakarot hadn’t meant to bare his throat, that it was a slip, but even so, for just a moment, it had made Vegeta’s heart jump and his mouth salivate. Now it left nothing but a sour taste, and Vegeta turned away from the sight of Kakarot leaving, focusing on Nappa. “Get this mess cleaned up.” He ordered, referring to the destroyed ring and broken shield. He then jumped out of the ring, grabbed his cape from where he’d thrown it, and left himself.

He needed to be alone right now to process.

\--

No one noticed the dark figure slipping out of the room once Nappa had started drawing attentions with his attempts to command a cleanup crew.

Turles stalked towards his ship, hackles raised. He’d caught a sweet scent lingering in the air as Kakarot left, even if it seemed like no one else had noticed. Not even the overly concerned big brother. But Turles had noticed, and he knew what it meant.

He knew he had to hurry.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peoples denial starts to crumble away in the face of their actions...
> 
> Despite being told, Goku has never accepted himself as a beta, still thinking of himself like a human guy. But his nature is catching up to him, and it’s both scary and confusing.
> 
> Vegeta isn’t terrified by wanting things, but is indeed rather miffed at what he’s finding himself wanting. But don’t worry; I’m sure he’ll twist it around until it makes sense in his head.
> 
> Turles meanwhile isn’t up to anything good. You’ll see. Next chapter shit is gonna go *down*!


	12. Just a little taste.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ehh, um… Erotic fruit play? See the end note for warnings if you think you need it.

 

Goku went straight to his room after leaving the med-bay, ignoring the knowingly smiling doctor Basil, Dilla’s concerned questions and the fact that Raditz was shadowing his steps. He slammed into his room and threw himself on his bed, face into his pillow, and listened as Raditz walked in behind him, closing the door.

Raditz sat down on the corner of Goku’s bed with a sigh, placing a comforting hand on his little brother’s back. “I don’t know why you’re so surprised by this. You knew it was going to happen soon, hell, it might even explain why you’ve been such a moody and contrary little bitch these last couple of days.”

Goku growled into his pillow, not feeling up to answering.

Raditz ran his free hand down his face. “I don’t like the fact that Basil thinks that Turles and Vegeta swarming around you might have caused your heat to come on faster either, but you were getting close anyway according to the last blood work he did on you.”

“He should have warned me.” Goku mumbled accusingly, turning his face enough for his brother to hear.

“He told you he didn’t want you to be overly conscious about it. Knowing how uncomfortable you are with all this you’d have gone into hiding at the first notes of it.” Raditz argued calmly. Personally he’d have preferred that, but Dr. Basil was right; it wasn’t a healthy way to deal.

Goku didn’t have any answer to this, and instead rolled to the side, struggling with his comforter until he’d wrapped himself up in it like a caterpillar.

Raditz watched the blanket burrito that was his brother, unimpressed. “Something else is bothering you that you’re not telling me.” He stated.

Goku froze, Vegeta’s surprised expression as Goku bared his neck flashing behind his eyes, but it couldn’t be seen thanks to his wrapping. “None of your business.” He sulked defiantly.

Raditz rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’m sure you’ll slip up and tell me eventually anyway.” He stood up and cast a glance around the room. “I’m going to go get you some food and drinks to keep in here, just in case you decide to keep hiding out. Don’t murder anyone while I’m gone, the paperwork would be a pain.”

Goku grunted, pulling the comforter more firmly up over his head and listening as the door opened and closed again.

So this was heat. A constant, itchy and burning sensation just below his skin and a mix of unexplainable anger and annoyance which just kept rising. It had been less than three hours since his battle with Vegeta, and already Goku wanted to fight someone again.

Not Vegeta though.

Or, well, that was a lie. His _instincts_ wanted him to go find the prince immediately, but personally Goku would be happy to not have to see the alpha again until he’d gotten a handle on this shit.

Ending their fight by baring his throat like that…

Goku banged his head into his headboard, wishing he could just forget. Hitting himself like that hurt, but it didn’t distract him from thoughts of Vegeta.

Why had Goku done that? He didn’t like Vegeta…… Did he?

Goku pulled his pillow down so he could hug it, while trying to come up with any positive traits he could subscribe to the saiyan prince.

Goku didn’t care about status and all that jazz, and aside from Vegeta’s strength, which Goku did admire, he was coming up dry. It seemed much easier to name all Vegeta’s bad qualities. The prince was proud, condescending, classist, hot-headed, unreasonable and willing to destroy anyone and anything that got in his way.

Goku rolled over with a huff. Why did a jerk like that fill his thoughts like this?

 _‘Well, he isn’t the_ only _alpha out there’_ Some new and unknown part of Goku’s brain whispered. Goku sat up. That was right! He’d promised to go meet Turles, and he’d completely forgotten about it in the face of Vegeta suddenly showing up. He glanced at the screen displaying the time. It was still late afternoon, not too late to go.

Feeling energized by his decision to do something, and hoping that it would distract him from thoughts of Vegeta, Goku got up and pulled new clothes on. His old ones hadn’t been salvageable after what Vegeta had done to them.

Once he was dressed Goku slowly opened the door and peeked outside sneakily. Raditz might be back any minute, and Goku had to leave before then, or his brother would get in his way again. Sensing that the coast was clear, Goku hurried outside and towards the docking area.

The few people he passed on his way there watched him curiously, and one tried to stop and ask him about his fight with Vegeta and why Goku had left so suddenly, but once the man caught Goku’s sweetened scent he trailed off, realizing the cause.

Goku growled at him, fangs showing, and the alpha backed up, knowing he couldn’t take Goku in a fight and frankly unwilling to get involved in the mess going on between the prince, Turles and Bardock’s over-powered offspring.

Goku sped up after that, deciding to fly, and made it to the dock in no time. The twin suns were setting, casting everything in red and orange hues, when he landed in front of Turles ship. He looked around, unsure of how he was supposed to enter. Before he could go find someone to ask, a figure melted out of the shadows at the foot of the ship.

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come.”

Goku focused on the other man, surprised that he hadn’t noticed Turles’ presence before then. “Sorry, I wanted to come earlier, but Raditz kept getting in my way and then Vegeta showed up…” He trailed off.

Turles face was half hidden in shadows, but his mouth looked taut. “Yea, I watched.”

Goku winced at the barely hidden cold in the alpha’s voice. He scratched his hair, feeling like he should apologize for some reason, but unable to figure out why. “It was frustrating. I never stood a chance.” Goku said bitterly, throwing off his discomfort about Turles’ reaction.

Turles seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then stepped fully into the light from the setting suns, eyes glinting red from the rays and his expression now changed to something almost pleasant. “What if I told you I have something that could help you change that?” He asked, voice dulcet.

Goku unconsciously took a step closer, drawn in. “What is it?” He wondered, curious.

Turles smirked, holding a hand out for Goku to take.

Goku looked between Turles face and his outstretched hand, hesitating, but finally reached out and grabbed hold. Turles slipped his fingers between Goku’s, weaving their hands together, before pulling the younger man after him up the ramp and into his ship.

Inside it was dark, the lights set on low to preserve power with the crew spending time on base. Turles led Goku along, his palm warm against Goku’s. Finally they reached a closed set of electric doors, and Turles turned around, still not letting go.

 “You have to promise not to tell anyone about this, Kakarot, or we might both get in big trouble.” He cautioned.

Goku frowned, moving closer. “Why? Is it something bad?”

Turles snorted, shaking his head. “It’s something the elite wouldn’t like that I’ve kept secret. They can’t stand the thought of third classes like us surpassing them.” He said bitterly, eyes downcast, before focusing back on Goku. “Never forget that Kakarot; to them we are nothing but cannon fodder and they’ll sacrifice us in a heartbeat. Even, no, especially prince Vegeta.” Turles sneered the last part.

Goku swallowed, nodding. “I promise.” He whispered.

Turles smiled at the beta’s agreement, then turned around to enter the code for the doors. The double door hissed open, cold air billowing out from within. “Come.” Turles urged, pulling Goku inside.

The new room was cold and mostly empty, nothing but a pedestal in the very center surrounded by glass. Goku let his hand slip out of Turles’ and walked closer curiously, wondering what was displayed.

When he got closer he became able to tell, his eyes having gotten used to the low light. “Fruit?” Goku wondered out loud, confused by why this had to be so secret.

Turles walked up behind him, his chest coming into contact with Goku’s back as he reached an arm around him, resting a palm against the glass covering the fruit within. Goku could feel Turles’ hot breath at the back of his neck.

“Not just any fruit.” Turles stated, voice low and exhales warm against Goku’s skin. “It’s a very special and very, very rare fruit plucked from something called the Tree of Might.”

“Tree of Might?” Goku repeated, taking the fruit in with new eyes. It was an orange-red color, almost like an apple with tiny bumps. It didn’t _look_ that special, yet somehow Goku felt drawn by watching it.

“Mmmh.” Turles hummed. “It can raise your power exponentially, but as I said, it’s very rare. I was lucky to have found it.” He said, withholding the truth of how he came into possession of the fruit. Despite Kakarot’s strength, Turles had long since pegged the boy to be far more gentle and kind than most saiyans. Probably his upbringing was to blame, but regardless, Turles wouldn’t scare the beta off by describing the destruction he’d wrought on countless planets in his quest for power.

Turles slipped his other arm around Kakarot’s body, resting his palm against the teenager’s abdomen, noting the quickening rise and fall of the beta’s breathing. “I ate it myself, of course, but one I saved, for an emergency I thought… Until I met you.” He whispered into Kakarot’s ear.

“Me?” Goku repeated, turning around to meet Turles gaze with wide eyes. “Y-you want _me_ to eat it?”

Turles let a seductive grin spread across his face. Kakarot was able to control his battle power and would be able to hide the sudden rise, making it much safer for him to eat than it was for Turles.  “Yes… After all, aren’t you curious? You’re already this strong. Imagine what would happen if you ate the fruit… Your power might double, or even triple!” He purred, understating the power of the fruit, less he scare the boy out of eating it. “Imagine the _fights_ we could have then.” He added, emphasis on the one word which would most motivate an in heat beta.

Goku shuddered and had to close his eyes to focus. It felt like Turles was lulling him into a strange kind of fog, Goku’s body and instincts straining for him to… He didn’t know. He opened his eyes again, looking up at the older man. Should he eat it? He had gotten similar power ups in the past, so he couldn’t exactly say he was against it, but…

Turles smiled at Kakarot’s struggle, the boy’s innocence shining through. _‘I’m winning this one, Vegeta’._ He thought with determined satisfaction, before leaning forward, reaching behind Kakarot and pressing a button so the glass covering the fruit slid away, allowing Turles to pick it up. He brought the fruit to his own lips, smiling at Kakarot from behind it.

“Are you nervous? You don’t have to be. Eating it can be unpleasant at first, it might hurt a bit, but then it’ll feel really good. Like pure power and ecstasy.” He lured.

Turles watched Kakarot’s Adam’s apple bob as the younger saiyan swallowed, eyes fixed on the fruit. “Is it tasty?” The beta wondered.

“Very.” Turles promised, slowly pressing the fruit against the teen’s lips.

Goku looked at Turles, hesitant. Eating this fruit seemed almost like cheating, kind of like the Ultra Divine Water… But of course Goku had drank that without any complains, even if he’d risked death by doing so.

“Do you want us to eat it together?” Turles wondered with a smirk, noting Goku’s hesitance.

“…No. I-I’ll eat it… Unless you want to?” He suggested.

Turles smiled, pleased. “I’ll just have a nibble.” He promised, moving closer until all that separated them was the fruit between them.

They bit into it at the same time.

Turles simply sank his teeth into the skin, but didn’t take a chunk out of it, and quickly let go again. He wanted to watch the results of this without distraction.

Goku took big bites of the fruit, too nervous about the results to draw it out. The flesh was sweet and indeed rather apple like, and the juice from it slipped out the corners of his mouth with its abundance, running down his chin and neck.

He wasn’t even half done when a strange burning started in Goku’s stomach, spreading quickly and violently to his chest and then outwards. Goku yelled, knees buckling underneath him, body feeling like it was on fire, like lava was running through his veins.

Only Turles’ firm grip on him kept him up, the bigger man holding him tight, watching with rapt attention as Goku twisted and screamed, unprepared for the fruit’s effect as its power coursed throughout his body, changing it.

Goku felt like every muscle in his body teared at once, and for a moment he wanted nothing more than to black out, but then it stopped, the pain and the burning stopped, changing into a tingling rush and making him gasp, eyes wide and unseeing.

“Yes.” Turles whispered, face right next to Goku’s. “You’re feeling it now. The power.” Turles himself had eaten the fruit before and was used to its effects, but he still remembered the first time. This particular fruit was also grown on a small planet, not as powerful as it could be, but still, the results would be clear.

Goku gasped for breath, winded by the sheer power of his ki as if flared within him.

Turles watched Kakarot’s tempting lips, still strained red by the fruit’s juices, before giving in and crashing their mouths together, pulling the younger saiyan close, his grip firm.

Goku’s eyes widened as Turles suddenly covered Goku’s mouth with his and the alpha’s tongue licked against his lips, until Goku opened up and Turles found his way inside.

Kakarot’s inexperience was clear, and Turles buried a hand in the beta’s dark hair, tilting his head, guiding him until the angle and pressure became good. His other hand he slipped behind the boy’s back, caressing him both calmingly and teasingly at the same time, gentling the younger until his body moved in accordance with Turles’, settling into a more than pleasant rocking motion while they kissed.

Goku didn’t know what was going on, but it felt good, albeit strange, so he closed his eyes and went along with it. Goku had never known that his lips, and the roof of his mouth, could be ticklish, but Turles taught him; the alpha nipping and biting before licking his way inside, engaging Goku’s own tongue, which he used more hesitantly, trying to imitate what the older man was doing.

Goku couldn’t stay quiet, strange sounds bubbling out of his throat without his say so. He gasped aloud when Turles slipped a leg between Goku’s thigs and rubbed.

The sensation was too intense, and Goku tried to pull back, but had nowhere to go, caught between Turles’ larger body and the stone pedestal.

“Turles… Wait—What a-are you doing?” He got out, dodging the alpha’s mouth to say his piece.

Turles pulled back a bit, smirking, eyes dark and pupils blown. “Nothing you don’t want me to” He promised, leaning in and nipping at Kakarot’s ear, causing the younger man to shudder. “Let me show you what your body wants, Kakarot.” He whispered.

Goku swallowed a moan as Turles bit his ear; suckling on the flip and licking teasingly into the shell. It tickled, but in a very different way than Goku was used to. He wrapped his arms around the older man’s shoulders, hanging on and just trying to keep up with the sensations.

He’d closed his eyes again, slipping back into that pleasant worry free fog, when suddenly Turles’ nimble hand found its way inside his clothes; Goku’s pants to be exact.

“Wha—“ Goku started, but bit off as he froze at the feeling of Turles fingers gliding past his sensitive tail root and teasingly down his crack. All of a sudden Goku realized what was happening; where this was going, and the realization caused him to rip himself away forcibly, Turles grunting in surprise at suddenly being showed back with a force he hadn’t expected the beta to show.

Goku stumbled his way around Turles, still fast despite feeling addled, and started running for the exit, uninterested in explaining or staying around to hear one.

“Kakarot!” Turles called after him, sounding upset.

Goku ignored him and ran faster, tumbling out of the ship and almost rolling down the ramp. He’d reached the ground when Turles was suddenly there, hitting Goku in the back with all his body weight behind him and pressing him down onto the ground on his hands and knees.

“And where exactly do you think you’re going?” The pirate growled in his ear, body covering his and sounding pissed.

Goku twisted around, planting an elbow in Turles gut which threw him off, much to Goku’s surprise.

As he older saiyan was thrown off him, Goku watched his own arm in surprise, noting the slightly more defined muscles, but otherwise unable to tell where the sudden strength had come from. Turles had said the fruit might increase his strength as much as three times, but this felt like way more.

Turles got to his feet with a grunt, glaring at Goku who was still sitting on the ground, before his angry expression slowly gave way to an understanding one.

“Oh so that’s what you’re playing at.” He chuckled. Apparently their spar hadn’t been enough for Kakarot to accept Turles as a strong mate. “You want me to subdue you again? Well aren’t you just a little minx.” He asked, baring his fangs with a grin.

Goku blinked, focusing back on Turles and the other saiyan’s aggressive stand. “No, I—“ He shook his head, trying to clear it. It was true that he wanted to fight, a part of his mind yelling at him to engage the alpha, to test his strength, but Goku forced it down. He was more than this, more than instincts and mating.

But he couldn’t find the words, and before he managed, Turles was on him again, forcing Goku back down on his back; his head hitting the ground with a dull crack and the following pain dazing him for a moment.

Turles crawled over him, gripping his hair and trying to force Goku’s head back. “Submit.” He ordered.

At the word, something in Goku snapped and he roared back, the noise carrying and echoing across the dock and into the hangar.

Turles looked taken aback by Goku’s violent refusal, but quickly his face clouded over with anger, eyes growing cold and hard. “Fine. Then I’ll make you.” He threatened, pulling hard enough at Goku’s hair that he could feel some of it rip out of his scalp, trying to force his head back to bite him regardless of the beta’s consent. This time Goku screamed, but before he could try and get free to counterattack, another figure came hurtling into Turles’ side, throwing the pirate off of Goku and clear across the dock where the dark skinned saiyan finally ended up imbedded in the metal side of a ship.

The newcomer went straight after him, and Goku sat up, hissing at the pain in his head and scalp but watching the new fighter as he followed Turles, realizing that he recognized him.

“Vegeta?”

 

xXx

 

 

**Right after Goku’s and Vegeta’s spar:**

Vegeta slammed into his quarters, shedding the remnants of his destroyed armor as he went. He was naked as he reached his private baths and he hissed as he turned on the water, the liquid causing his wounds to sting. Damn that Kakarot, but the beta had actually managed to injure him to an annoying degree.

Vegeta let the water slush over him, watching his blood tint it dark pink as it ran down the drain. He might have to patch up. He closed his eyes and leaned his hands against the wall, hanging his head and letting the water pressure massage his neck as he tried to make sense of his thoughts regarding the beta.

He recalled Kakarot laying underneath him, helpless in the face of Vegeta’s power, both this time and the time before. He and remembered holding the beta close, unconscious in Vegeta’s arms after battle, and finally admitted to himself that, yes, he was attracted to the third class. Therein lay the problem.

Kakarot was strong, true, but not stronger than you could find other elites being. He might be a rare male beta, but despite rumors that didn’t guarantee that any offspring of his would be stronger than if Vegeta mixed his blood with an actual elite beta.

Vegeta clenched his hand and rested his forehead against his fist. Pursuing Kakarot would be foolhardy at this point. There were no guarantied benefits to it, but a lot of definite downsides, one of which was that Vegeta actually couldn’t stand his overly childish and friendly attitude.

Not to mention to uproar it would cause among the elite on Planet Vegeta… Had Kakarot been stronger, a true prodigy like Vegeta perhaps, then it would have been different. Vegeta knew that his father in particular was getting testy about Vegeta’s negligence when it came to continuing the bloodline, so as long as he could manage to have a strong child his father would be pleased, and the birth parent’s class origin wouldn’t matter overly much.

Of course that was only if you disregarded Kakarot being Bardock’s spawn.

Vegeta still felt tension and frustration coursing through his body, and with a sigh he gave up and reached down, taking a hold of his cock and bringing the picture and feeling of Kakarot beneath him to mind.

Perhaps that was the answer, he thought as he started stroking himself. Maybe all his father’s talk of continuing their line had gotten Vegeta too focused on mating. No one said he couldn’t just fuck Kakarot; share a heat with him without mating and get it out of his system. Vegeta groaned and threw his head back at the thought, bringing to mind how Kakarot had started to tilt his head back, exposing his throat and submitting, admitting by the action to viewing Vegeta as a strong alpha and worthy mate. In his mind’s eye Vegeta imagined himself taking the invitation; nipping at the exposed skin, kissing and licking until Kakarot was thrown firmly into the second stage of heat. The second stage where the only fighting was about who was in control while they fucked.

Vegeta got himself off easily by imagining this, and exited the bath, feeling much calmer than when he’d entered.

He had made up his mind. If given the chance he’d fuck Kakarot, finally getting the beta out of his system and out of his mind. Sure, he’d still have to watch the teen’s exponential power growth, just to be sure, but after having him that shouldn’t be a problem. Vegeta would be free to focus on bringing down Frieza again, and as for the king… Well, his father didn’t need to know of a simple dalliance between Vegeta and a third class, Bardock’s child or not.

He got dressed and, feeling curious, pressed the buttons on his scouter until it connected him to Dr. Basil in the med-bay.

“ _Ah, prince Vegeta. What a surprise.”_ The doctor stated, not sounding surprised at all. _“What can I do for you?”_

“You can give me an update on Kakarot. Is he healed?”

 _“Healed and in his room, where I imagine he’ll stay for the time being.”_ Basil told him.

Vegeta frowned. Kakarot had seemed upset by his near submission, sure, but he hardly seemed the type to hide out and brood on it. “And where is that?” Vegeta inquired, figuring he could go find Kakarot himself. Better to get this over and done with. He didn’t think the beta would be too hard to convince into lifting his tail for Vegeta, giving his reaction after their fight.

 _“Hmm, I’m not sure it’d make much difference even if I told you. He’s in heat you see, and you know how betas get about their territory being invaded during that time.”_ The doctor replied flippantly.

Vegeta dropped his cape which he had been fastening, allowing it to slide to the floor. “In… Heat?” He repeated, disbelieving. Surely Vegeta would have noticed if that had been the case?

 _“Yes, curious case, that. He’s been steadily edging closer to it, but it appears that yours and Turles’ sudden engaging with him sent him hurtling over the edge rather faster than expected. He’s pretty grumpy about this, as you can imagine.”_ Basil continued, sounding more pleased by the case’s unusualness than concerned by his patient’s troubles.

Most of Vegeta’s brain was still stuck on a loop of ‘ _in heat, in heat, in heat’_ but he managed to growl at the mention of Turles. It reminded him that he hadn’t yet had the time to find and shake down that little shit-stain with delusions of grandeur.

“Never mind then.” Vegeta told the doctor, ending the call. His ability to sense out ki would allow himself to search out Kakarot easily enough. Keeping this in mind Vegeta took his time to eat something and slap a healing fluid infused bandage over the worst of his wounds. It stung, and he decided that he’d leave Kakarot with marks to remember him by as a payback, after Vegeta was done with him.

He left then, concentrating on the feeling of Kakarot’s ki as he walked. The beta wasn’t hard to make out, his energy feeling much like sunshine on a warm day, a rather unusual sensation compared to other saiyans, Vegeta had come to find.

What concerned Vegeta was that it wasn’t coming from anywhere inside the base. He sped up as he got closer and closer to his goal, uncomfortable with the direction in which he was sensing Kakarot. What was the moron doing out on the docks while in heat? Vegeta could have understood if the beta had gone to a training room to work out, but what was there on the docks that— He growled when it finally hit him. Fucking _Turles_ , of course. He’d figured that the other alpha had designs on Kakarot, but Vegeta hadn’t expected him to move this fast, especially considering what Vegeta would do to the pirate for touching something of his.

He didn’t know what he’d been expecting once he reached the docks, but Turles trying to force a mating bite on a struggling and snarling Kakarot, like that sort of thing would even work, had not been it.

Reacting before he could think, Vegeta threw himself into the pirate’s side with a roar, sending Turles hurtling off of Kakarot and throwing the other man clear across the docks. Vegeta followed him, watching rather pleased as the other saiyan came to be painfully imbedded in the side of a ship, metal groaning around him.

What surprised Vegeta was how Turles pulled himself free with nothing but a grunt, glaring up at Vegeta who was floating above him, but not seeming particularly hurt. The darker skinned man kicked off, flying upwards until he was level with Vegeta and sneering at him. “You trying to challenge me for Kakarot?” He asked, sounding a mixture of pissed and disbelieving.

“It’s not a _challenge_ when he has already chosen me. This is just me teaching you not to touch my property.” Vegeta informed him mockingly.

Turles stared at him for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed. “Oh gods… I’d forgotten how deluded you always are.” He settled down, looking back at Vegeta with a smirk. “Then I guess it’ll come as a surprise when I tell you just how willingly he gave himself over to me just moments ago.” He taunted, licking his lips.

Vegeta bared his teeth. “Nice try, but there was nothing willing about that little display I just watched. What’s wrong Turles? Have you lost all abilities when it comes to betas? Enough that you have to force them now?”

Turles just smirked, shrugging his shoulder nonchalantly. “That was just the aftermath. I’m afraid he got a little too excited and wanted another fight. But I’ve gotta say… The appetizer I got from him before makes it seem like it’ll be worth the trouble.” Turles licked his lips again, grin wicked.

Vegeta felt his hackles rise. “What did you do to him.” It wasn’t a question, simply a fact of how much Vegeta would hurt the other alpha before killing him.

“Let’s just say I gave him a little schooling in how to use that pretty mouth of his.”

That was it. Vegeta saw red, firing a blast towards Turles, which the pirate wisely dodged, or it would have ripped right through him.

“What’s wrong Vegeta? You angry that I got to him first? I gotta say, the taste of innocence _is_ rather sweet.” Turles taunted, trying to get his opponent to drop his guard.

“You’re a dead man talking Turles.” Vegeta informed him, voice promising murder. He drew back, charged his energy, and shot. “GALICK GUN!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s some Turles/Goku in this chapter, with Turles basically seducing the hell out of an already addled Goku, who doesn’t know what he’s getting into, but manages to get out before Turles can get very far.
> 
> Call out to Josh who totally called the heat thing last chapter XD
> 
> More interestingly: GOKU ATE THE FRUIT. Next it’ll be time to see how much his power rose from that.


	13. It's not me - it's you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I generally don’t give people what they expect. Here’s another example of that. Enjoy!

Standing on the ground, Goku watched the two alphas clash in the sky in explosions of red and purple, blue and orange intermixed. Goku rather thought it looked like a fireworks display from this distance.

Still, it gave Goku time to orient himself and catch up mentally to what had just happened. It would seem like his brother had been right to warn him about Turles, Goku noted bitterly. But on the plus side… Goku flexed his hands, then arms, and finally did a couple of squads. Yep. His power had definitely increased immensely, and Turles had been right, it did make him feel almost ecstatic. Though some of that might have been his heat speaking. Seeing two powerful alphas battling it out for him had his blood boiling to a point where he wouldn’t be surprised if steam started wafting off of him. Normally the interference between Goku and his opponent would have pissed him off, but somehow he didn’t mind too much. In the end he’d just fight whoever wound up winning.

Goku frowned at his last thought. Fight whoever won? That sounded almost like choosing one of them… Goku shook his head, trying to clear it. Was fighting really what Goku himself wanted, or was it something else..? 

The explosions caused by Turles and Vegeta’s fight had been quick to draw attention, and Goku cast a glance behind himself to take note of all the people gathering on the dock, saiyans in particular, to gape and point confusedly at the two fighting team commanders. Only when someone pointed out Goku’s presence did it seem like a light bulb turned on for the gathered masses.

Goku should have expected it, but he’d turned his attention back to watching Vegeta and Turles, who were looking increasingly bloodier and more enraged as they clashed again and again, and as such he jumped with surprise when a heavy hand came down hard on his shoulder.

“What. The. _Hell_. Did I tell you!?!” Raditz half screamed half growled from behind him, and Goku looked over his shoulder with a grimace at his fuming brother.

“To be fair I haven’t killed anyone yet.” He pointed upwards. “And that wasn’t my idea. Pretty sure it was Vegeta’s.”

Raditz looked like he might boil over, but not from excitement like Goku. “I Am. Going. To STRANGLE YOU!” he yelled, pulling at his hair with his free hand and stomping in the ground.

Goku was rather split between watching his big brother have a tantrum and keeping an eye on the fighters in the sky, but priorities won over and he turned back around to watch in time to see Vegeta hit Turles with a vicious looking power blast, sending the man hurtling into the rocky landscape of the planet.

Vegeta hang in the air, looking in the direction his opponent had been thrown, but when Turles didn’t reappear after almost half a minute, he turned around, self-satisfied, and landed back on the ground in front of Goku. Vegeta’s armor was chipped and his clothes ripped mostly to pieces, blood and burns also covered several parts of his body, but his eyes still shone wild with battle lust. “Enjoy the show?” He asked Goku.

Goku tilted his head in a so-so motion.

Vegeta growled. “You don’t seem to have learned your place yet, beta.”

Goku blinked at him slowly, a smile edging its way onto his face. “Or maybe I simply keep moving upwards in the world while you stay stagnant.” Goku pondered out loud, voice teasing but with a malicious edge, mind clouding over again at the sight of the alpha before him and the smell of blood.

Raditz, who was still standing behind Goku, boggled at this creature masquerading as his little brother. That had not sounded like something normal I-have-my-wits-about-me Kakarot would say; and as such Raditz wisely backed the fuck up.

Vegeta wasn’t as smart. “Oh really? You think that, in what, three hours? You can surpass me? You think this fight is gonna turn out _any different_ than last time?” Vegeta asked, then smiled. “Well, you’re half right, because this time you’re going to actually bare your throat to me.”

Goku curled his lip at Vegeta’s words, showing off a longer than usual canine. “I won’t submit to you.” Goku promised him, voice dark.

“Hmph. Fight me then, and we’ll see who’s right.” Vegeta demanded, getting ready.

Goku kept standing where he was, tail lashing behind him, fur poofed, growling but not making any moves towards Vegeta. His entire body strained to fight, but Goku fought back against the instinct, unsure that he’d be able to control himself. Part of him wanted Vegeta to overpower him, and that scared him.

“What’s wrong Kakarot, lost your nerve?” Vegeta teased.

Egged on by Vegeta’s persistence Goku raised a hand and released a sudden power shot at Vegeta, which surprised the prince enough that he had to doge. A mighty explosion was heard and felt from behind him, where Goku’s shot had connected with a ship, decimating it.

Swirling back around to watch him, Vegeta growled. “What the hell are you doing moron? Those ships are expensive! Watch where you aim.”

Goku’s expression didn’t appear contrite; in fact it didn’t change at all. “Don’t dodge then.”

Fed up with the beta’s attitude, Vegeta threw himself at the younger man with a growl. Kakarot didn’t defend himself, letting Vegeta slam him into the ground and only briefly closing his eyes at the impact before glaring back up at the alpha above him.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Vegeta asked, frustrated. Why wasn’t Kakarot coming at him properly?

Goku grit his teeth and clenched the muscles in his neck and shoulders to the point of pain. _Don’t bare your throat, don’t bare your throat_ , he told himself as his thoughts whirled and the blood-sweat scent of alpha invaded his senses. He couldn’t stay like this Goku realized; the longer he stayed pinned by Vegeta the harder these new impulses became to control. But what then? If he fought and was overpowered again the results would be the same, and this time he might not catch himself in time if Vegeta asked him to submit. That only left one option, and it wasn’t an easy one.

Goku would have to fight Vegeta and win.

He opened his eyes, which he’d closed while he fought within himself, and looked at Vegeta. The prince was already injured and tired from his battle with Turles. Normally Goku would consider going full out at an injured opponent cheating, but he didn’t have the luxury of sportsmanship right now. Vegeta might be just exhausted enough that Goku could win, presuming that the fruit had really given Goku as much of a power boost as it felt like.

“FIGHT ME!” Vegeta yelled, pulling his hand back and starting to charge a dark red blast, making it clear to Goku that he’d attack whether the beta defended himself or not.

Goku’s eyes widened. No more time to think, he had to defend himself! Quickly he brought up his own hand and shot a much weaker ki blast straight into Vegeta’s face. The alpha yelled from the pain of the close range blast, and threw his head back while covering his face with his hands. Goku took advantage and wasted no time throwing Vegeta off of himself. Goku got up with a backwards summersault and came to a halt a couple of feet away, but he didn’t simply ready himself for Vegeta to counterattack. “Ka-me-ha-me-HA!” Goku yelled, continuing to attack by firing at the temporarily blinded prince.

This wasn’t a spar. It wasn’t about testing each-others abilities or waiting to see what your opponent would do. This was a fight, and one Goku needed to win, both against Vegeta, and against his own instincts. Goku knew, in some animalistic part of his mind, that if he lost to Vegeta now then he’d surrender himself, and even if that seemed like an appealing idea at the moment, Goku knew he had never fantasized about that before after his heat had started.

Still, it was like he couldn’t shake the blur in his head, and Goku wondered why. Wasn’t betas meant to get stronger when they were in heat? Why was he being this unfocused? His body kept wavering between screaming at him to fight and telling him to welcome his alpha…

Wait, was that it?

Goku’s heat had probably started just before, or maybe while, sparring with Vegeta, and at that time Vegeta had overpowered him and won. This fog… Had his body already subconsciously decided on Vegeta? Was that why he couldn’t focus properly, because as far as his body and instincts were concerned, his alpha had already been chosen?

Goku’s preoccupation with analyzing himself proved a dangerous distraction.

Vegeta had been hit by the Kamehameha and sent flying, the shot even more powerful than the one he’d taken in the training ring. But Vegeta got up and out of the broken rocks surrounding him with a strained grunt. Kakarot’s shot had thrown him clear across the rest of the dock and out into the rocky landscape. It would seem like the beta wasn’t playing around. He seriously wasn’t planning on submitting to Vegeta again, not unless Vegeta could win over him once more. Vegeta snorted and spit blood out to the side. How ridiculous. Kakarot’s power might be higher now that he was in heat, and Vegeta might be injured, but he would still be able to easily curb stomp the little fool.

With a wild grin Vegeta blasted off, hurtling towards Kakarot at a furious speed. The beta didn’t dodge, didn’t even seem to notice him before Vegeta connected with him, grabbing the younger man around the waist and wrestling him down, aiming a hit to Kakarot’s face as soon as he had him back on the ground.

Kakarot took the hit, head snapping to a side and eyes closing. Vegeta hesitated instead of punching again. This wasn’t the first time Kakarot had been slow to react. Normally a beta got both stronger and faster during heat, so why the hell…?

Goku regained his senses, swirling around and punching back with all his might, hitting Vegeta square in the face because the prince hadn’t been expecting it. Vegeta was thrown to the side, and Goku quickly got up and made more distance between them, while wiping at his now split lip and smarting cheek.

Damn his instincts. Damn his body. Goku wasn’t just rolling over and accepting Vegeta, or any alpha, just because his biology had suddenly decided to be different from what he’d always known. With a roar Goku powered up, raising his ki as much as he’d been able to before, but then something strange happened.

He kept going.

Goku blinked as he felt how his ki kept rising; how his body didn’t strain under the power like before. Was this the results of the fruit Turles had given him? Goku clenched his fist. In that case he had to mentally thank the other man. If not for the fruit, Goku wouldn’t have stood a chance of winning, addled as he was, but like this, his power measured up against Vegeta’s. Even if he couldn’t move as fast or was just as technically skilled as the prince yet, if he could just get in one full powered blast, then…

This time Goku managed to block when Vegeta attacked him, the alpha’s face ending up close to his as they locked, his expression furious. “What is that power?! You weren’t like this last time we fought!” Vegeta yelled.

Goku didn’t answer, he simply swung to hit back. Vegeta blocked him, and soon they were engaged in a hand to hand battle so fast that no one from the gathered audience was able to follow the fighters with their eyes.

Standing off to the side, removed from the danger zone, Raditz stared, chills running down his spine. His scouter’s beeping had more or less settled into one continuous furious whine, barely able to keep up with the rising power levels of his brother and the prince.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. “Raditz, what the _hell_ is up with your brother? How is he this strong? He’s going toe to toe with Vegeta. Was he always this powerful? Did he throw their spar?”

Raditz couldn’t remove his eyes from where Kakarot and Vegeta was blurring in and out of sight, only the sounds of their battle revealing their positions. “I-I don’t know.” He stammered.

The saiyan behind him squeezed his shoulder. “What the hell man? Was your mother an elite or something? This shouldn’t be possible, not even with heat.”

Raditz could feel himself shaking. “No, she isn’t. I d-don’t know what is…” He trailed off. What could he say? Kakarot had never shown this much power before, not while fighting with Vegeta mere hours ago, and certainly never while sparring with Raditz. Had his brother been lying to him? Had he been keeping this power secret, or had he just not known? Raditz felt lost and angry, unsure what to believe.

A sudden violent explosion which cracked the concrete of the dock and sent debris flying forced the gathered masses to cover their faces, even as they were pushed back from the pressure. Some fell and was thrown, while others managed to hunker down. Raditz was among the last, and as the heat and wind started to dissipate, he peeked out from behind his raised arms, locking on to the slowly appearing figures within the dust and smoke. One was laying down, the other hunched above him; breathing heavily but clearly the one to come out on top. Who was it?

xXx

Vegeta coughed and blinked his eyes slowly open. He felt something wet and warm drip onto his cheek, and slowly he lifted his gaze. Kakarot was hunched above him, panting from exhaustion and bleeding heavily from a wound on his forehead, which was what had dripped onto Vegeta. He couldn’t believe this. Kakarot had managed to pin him, the prince of all saiyans, down?!?

With a grunt Vegeta tried to pull himself free of the concrete so he could shove Kakarot off and show the impertinent peasant his place, but as he tried Kakarot’s palms came down heavy on his chest, keeping him down. Almost immediately Vegeta could feel the ki rising in them, the palms growing hotter and hotter against his skin until they were almost sizzling and sparking with visible power.

“Don’t. Move.” Kakarot hissed, bloody spittle dripping out the corner of his mouth.

Vegeta strained against the beta’s hold but stayed put. If he took a blast at this range, even he wasn’t sure to come out of it alive, and right now he didn’t know what Kakarot would do if pushed. Vegeta didn’t understand how this could have even happened though. How had this third class suddenly shown so much power?! _How?!!_

“What the hell did you do?!? HOW ARE YOU THIS STRONG?!?” Vegeta screamed demandingly, Kakarot flinching at the noise, but not moving from his place over Vegeta.

“I don’t—I don’t know—suddenly I just—I had to…” Goku was panting, unable to finish his sentences or gather his thoughts. He had to get away from here, away from Vegeta before he lost it. Winning over the alpha hadn’t settled or calmed him down like he thought it would. Apparently he wouldn’t be able to stop his body from the path it had started down this easily.

Goku focused his bleary eyes on Vegeta’s, holding the other man’s gaze as he spoke. “I couldn’t lose to you… I can’t accept you. Not like this—You might be strong, but you’re not—You’re not...” He lost his words then, unable to explain his feelings properly. Goku had the feeling that if he had given in to the alpha now, then he would have lost Vegeta’s regard and attention completely. The older saiyan wasn’t really seeing Goku, seeing _him._ Not yet. Goku had to make it ahead.

Vegeta growled. “I’m _everything!_ Everything you could want! Why are you sprouting this nonsense!? You should feel honored I’ve even spent time on you!! Now let me up, this fight isn’t over yet.”

Goku just stared down at him, before closing his eyes with a sigh and turning his face away. “No, it’s over. I’m done.” He couldn’t afford to drag this out, didn’t even want to right now.

With a struggle he got to his legs, found his balance as well as he could and started limping his way towards the crowd, away from a stunned Vegeta.

Vegeta sat up, staring after the beta’s disappearing back. “What the hell are you doing?! Where are you going? Come back here, it’s an order!!!” He demanded, desperation creeping in. It couldn’t end like this. Vegeta couldn’t have lost, not ever, and especially not like this, to a damned third class! Vegeta was still able to fight; Kakarot had just caught him off guard for a moment. Their fight wasn’t done yet!

Goku ignored the yells of the prince, and looked over the crowd, searching for—Yes, there. He limped over, faster now that there was an end in sight, and collapsed against his stunned and wide-eyed brother. Goku clenched his fists in the material of Raditz’ shirt and hid his face against his brother’s chest. “R-Raditz… Please…”

Shaking some of his frozen shock and disbelief, Raditz brought up a hand and settled it against Kakarot’s back. He wet his lips. “What—what do you want now, brother?” He asked. Kakarot had refused Vegeta. He had refused an offer to mate from royalty and in public nonetheless. Raditz wouldn’t have known what to think of this, how to react, even if someone had told him in advance. Right now pride in his brother warred with fear of the inevitable backlash.

Kakarot breathed against him, body already growing heavy. “I want my room. Sleep.” He muttered, sounding exhausted and strained, like it wasn’t what he actually craved, but it was all he was willing to allow himself.

Raditz noticed Kakarot’s demeanor at the same time he picked up a sweet scent under the smell of blood and sweat. He clenched his teeth, realizing for the first time what sort of battle was taking place inside his brother. Kakarot’s body seemed to have accepted Vegeta… But Kakarot himself hadn’t. He should have seen this coming. If he had, Raditz might have been able to prevent all this from happening. After being defeated and ignored like this, there was no telling what Vegeta would do to his brother; to both of them, as retaliation.

“Okay. I’ll get you there.” He took hold around Kakarot’s shoulders and bent down to slip his other arms under his knees. “I’ve got you now, just relax.” Raditz offered as he put him in a bridal carry, trying to comfort his younger sibling. Right now, it was all he could do.

Immediately Kakarot went lax in Raditz arms, still awake but unable to continue struggling. His face was still pained and tense, and Raditz held him close as he turned around and started back towards their quarters. He’d call Basil or Dilla to meet them there.

When he was almost at the entrance, Raditz heard Vegeta calling out their names, but he grit his teeth and continued, ignoring his prince and leaving Vegeta behind.

Right now he respected his brother more than he feared Vegeta. The prince would just have to deal.

xXx

Goku lost time as his body burned, unable to focus on anything but the fact that he was getting further and further away from his chosen partner.

He felt himself being settled onto cool sheets, and a cold cloth covering his forehead. Soon after that, the room filled with more voices than his brother’s, one female. Voices of people he knew, but it was so hard to focus, and his head hurt while his stomach was cramping.

Goku felt a prick in his right arm, and soon it startled tingling, feeling as if something like cool water was flowing into his bloodstream and up towards his chest. He didn’t know how long it took, but as he lay there he slowly felt his pain and nausea disappearing and his body becoming more cool. When the pressure behind his eyes started lightening he managed to open his eyes in a squint.

A light hand on his arm drew his attention to his right side, and the first thing Goku noticed was the IV bag, before Dilla’s face came slowly into focus. “Hey champ.” She said, voice low. “Are you starting to feel better?”

“Water.” Goku begged with a rasp.

Dilla offered him a straw and Goku gratefully pulled the fluid into him, feeling how his thirst was quenched. Well, one of his thirsts at least…

“I think you may have already realized,” Dilla started as Goku was still drinking. “but your body has gone into the second stage of heat. Usually that only happens once, and if, a beta has settled on a mate for their heat…” She trailed off, letting Goku finish his water.

He licked his lips, trying to moisten them too, before answering. “I just—I couldn’t…” Goku squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his hands in the sheets.

Dilla sighed, running a calming hand along his shoulder. “I know. I kinda get it, being a beta myself. What your instincts want… It’s not always something you think is a good idea with your mind.” Still, this much of a discord between the two was unusual. It wasn’t something she’d ever seen before.

She let her statement settle between them for a while, before continuing. “You chose Vegeta as a mate, even if it wasn’t conscious.” It was a statement more than a question, but it still caused Goku to turn his head away, ashamed.

Dilla squeezed his arm, assumption confirmed by Goku expression. “Because of that, your body thought it should enter the second stage of heat. That means your heightened powers from the first part of heat disappears, and while you may still feel aggressive you also get ready to, well…” She trailed off, not having to elaborate. The burning in Goku’s gut and neither regions spoke for themselves.

“It’s usually a time for closeness, something treasured. Going through it alone…” Dilla ducked her head, biting her lip. “I’m sorry Kaka, you must already be in so much pain.”

With some fumbling, Goku managed to find Dilla’s hand and squeeze it. “It’s okay. I chose this. Thank you for not going to find Vegeta instead of helping me.”

Dilla squeezed his hand back, even as her breathing shuddered. “Don’t thank me. I almost did. But I saw your fight from further away too. I know it would have been wrong.”

Goku smiled, feeling how it pulled on his dry lips. “I won.” He mumbled. He couldn’t really believe it. Of course Vegeta hadn’t been completely beaten once he left but…

It seemed like Dilla hesitated, before responding. “You did. But remember, Vegeta wasn’t fighting to kill you, and he was already injured… If he goes of his rocker because of this…” She huffed. “Well, everyone would look down on him for not respecting a betas decision, especially after losing in your second round, but I’m not sure if that’ll stop him from taking it out on you or not.”

Goku shook his head slowly from side to side, feeling his pillow mold after his movements beneath him. “He won’t. Vegeta might have a lot of pride, but it’s also tied up with honor. At least when it comes to saiyan customs… That’s the feeling I get from him.” Goku said, sounding sure.

“I hope that’s true. I’ve never seen or heard of an opponent of his getting out unscathed, but I guess this is maybe different.” Dilla mumbled, sounding unsure, but like she wanted to believe what her friend was saying.

“I’m sure.” Goku said, feeling it. “Vegeta might try to fight me again, not as an alpha but as another warrior, but he won’t do it before I’m at a hundred percent.” A sharp sing of pain traveled through his body at the last words. “Nnngh… I-it might take a while.” Goku allowed, feeling winded again.

Dilla got up and pulled a thin sheet over Goku’s body. He noticed that he was only wearing his underwear. “The second stage of heat varies for everyone, but three days is pretty usual.” She bit her lips, eyes apologetic as she tucked in her friend. “You’ll be on fluids and suppressants the entire time, painkillers too, but you’re injured already and without your alpha… I’m sorry, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take for your body to calm down. You might have to take the edge off yourself.”

Goku closed his eyes and nodded tiredly. Already he could feel the urge to touch himself, or rather, to be touched. And not just at the front, like usual. Between his cheeks he felt slick and warm, like he was slowly swelling. More than that though, he just wanted someone to hold him, well, not _someone_ but— “I’ll figure it out.” He promised, both to Dilla and himself.

Dilla stroked some of Goku’s hair away from his forehead. “I’ll be the one taking care of you. Raditz is your brother, so he could do it, but he seems really embarrassed about it. He’s outside instead, playing guard. Basil is a professional, but he’s still an alpha, so he thought it best that I be the one, lest he be affected by your pheromones himself.”

“But I’ll be safe here?” Goku asked, scared that Raditz wouldn’t be enough to keep alphas away. Goku hadn’t fought a desperate battle against Vegeta and his own nature just to be overcome by some opportunist now. Yet he wouldn’t be able to do much to defend himself if it were the case, his body feeling like nothing but painful mush.

“Normally the presence of your alpha mate would keep others away… But your door is reinforced, and anyone who tried something would be caught and punished, which they all know. So you’re as safe as you can be.” Dilla reassured.

Goku sighed and sank back into the mattress. “Good.”

“I’ll try to go find some food you can stomach.” Dilla told him. “Try to get some sleep. Once the heat really takes hold of you, you won’t be able to stop.”

“Okay.” Goku muttered, already feeling his lids lowering. He knew he would have a miserable time the next few days, but he didn’t regret his decision. Even if a part of him still wanted Vegeta here, at his side, the alpha running cooling hands across his skin, Goku had already chosen. He might be a beta. He’d have to deal with that truth from now on, he’d have to face it to gain control, but he wouldn’t let it rule him. He’d find his legs in dealing with this too, and once he did… Well, nothing had changed. He’d keep getting stronger, he’d fight Frieza and meet his family, and at some point he’d battle Vegeta again, and this time he’d win for real and have the prince really see him… That part at least felt like Goku’s own desire rather than his instinct’s.

He’d make Vegeta acknowledge him, not as a beta but as a warrior. That was a promise Goku made to himself, just before sleep finally pulled him under.

 

xXx

 

Vegeta watched the stars appear above him with a faraway look, not truly seeing their magnificence, but merely gazing into the darkness. He didn’t understand…

_I can’t accept you. Not like this—You might be strong, but you’re not—_

_You’re not..._

He wasn’t… What? What had Kakarot been trying to say? Vegeta clenched his fist, feeling rage once again try to overtake him. He was the strongest saiyan, the prince, an elite, a hardened warrior used to battle. What part of him was ‘ _not_ ’?! Could Kakarot have seen through Vegeta’s plan to leave him after his heat was done? Had he sensed it? It seemed unlikely, but so far the beta had shown keen instincts… What else could it be?

Vegeta didn’t think the beta had chosen Turles over him. No, he knew it. Kakarot hadn’t seemed the least bit upset with seeing the pirate be sent flying. But why then? Why, when it was clear that Vegeta was the stronger alpha, the better fighter, why? Even if it had only been for one heat, Kakarot should have felt honored that Vegeta would share that much with him.

He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes, trying to breathe through the red haze before he went off to find Kakarot again. The beta had refused him, humiliated him… And Vegeta would make him regret that eventually. But finding the younger man right now? It would be disgraceful. An alpha who couldn’t take no for an answer… There was a level to how far that could be allowed to go. Vegeta shook his head. No. He would not pursue the beta, not now when it was clear that Kakarot would not allow himself to be an easy lay. That in itself threw a wrench in Vegeta’s plans, but so did another thing.

Kakarot’s power.

When he and Vegeta had fought for the second time, he’d felt it. Kakarot’s power had been close to his, almost the same at it’s highest, if not… If not slightly stronger. Vegeta grit his teeth, hating to admit it, but it’d been that discovery which had thrown Vegeta off guard, allowing Kakarot to pin him. Was it because of the heat?... It seemed unlikely. A heat wouldn’t make _that_ much of a difference.

_I don’t know—suddenly I just—I had to… I couldn’t lose to you._

Kakarot didn’t seem to have understood it either. Had that power simply been sleeping inside him all along? Had something, like the heat and fighting, triggered it? Vegeta bit his thumb nail, frustrated with not knowing.

A third class he might be, but a beta having power close enough to match Vegeta’s own… Vegeta ran a hand down his face, hissing out a sigh. It didn’t leave him with much choice. Either he would have to kill Kakarot, to neutralize the threat he’d become if he kept acting out and having no respect for the royal house and the elite, or Vegeta would subdue the beta, mate him, and make Kakarot his own. It was one of the two, and no one but Vegeta could be allowed to do the latter.

Unfortunately any chance Vegeta had had of keeping all this from his father would be long gone. Someone would have told by now, and Vegeta was sure that had the king been on the Outside with them, he’d have punished Vegeta severely for his shameful loss. Vegeta may not have fought to kill, and he may have been injured, but it was still unsightly.

Only winning over Kakarot would redeem him.

But that still left the question of what exactly it was the beta found lacking with him. What was it?! Vegeta growled. Thinking over it on his own would lead him nowhere. He’d have to find the information somehow.

Who could he ask though? Raditz was the only one he knew Kakarot to have any relationship with, them being brothers and all. Vegeta had no idea if the younger saiyan had friends on base or on other teams. So he supposed that settled it. Raditz might be an oaf, but he was bound to know a thing or two about his own brother.

Vegeta smiled crookedly. It would also give him a chance to scare the shit out of the hairball, call it revenge for ignoring Vegeta’s orders and carrying Kakarot away.

Decision made Vegeta stood up. Time to terrorize a subject. And then, next time he fought Kakarot, he’d make the beta his.

 

xXx

 

Night had fallen, the air cold as Armond and Daiz helped carry their wounded captain back onto their ship. Turles was awake, but quiet as they settled into their seats, ready to leave if so ordered.

“Are we leaving cap’?” Daiz asked.

Turles’ eyes were dark, his voice more so. “For now. Vegeta was more trouble than I anticipated, and I got too caught up fighting with him… We can’t afford the attention.” He said, slowly turning the half eaten fruit he was holding around in his hand. Turles had regained his bearings too late to continue his fight with Vegeta, but he’d managed to witness Kakarot battling the prince. The fruit had proved more effective than Turles had dared to hope. A bit _too much_ , perhaps. It had made Kakarot too unruly.  

“They say the beta went into second stage heat despite defeating Vegeta.” Armond noted aloud. “But it seems like he’s riding it out on his own.”

Daiz whistled. “Wow. That’s rough. Why doesn’t he just choose someone else if he has it out for the highness?”

Armond shrugged, and Turles just frowned, eyes still fixed on the remains of the fruit. Kakarot had been going into the second part of heat since his first fight with Vegeta, something only Turles had noticed and thought to use. Second stage heat didn’t allow for the same level of clear thinking and aggression as the first part did, being meant for closeness rather than battle. If Vegeta was going to let his prize run off without noticing, then he could hardly fault others from trying to take it.

“Regardless, Kakarot is cut off from me right now. Even if I wasn’t sure he was being guarded, Vegeta is still around. His pride might have suffered a blow, but I doubt something at this level will keep him down for long. So we’re leaving before he remembers I’m here.” It rubbed Turles wrong having to do so, but sometimes tactical retreat was the best way to fight another day. Besides, it didn’t seem like Vegeta would be getting anywhere with Kakarot right now either.

As his men started the takeoff procedure Turles brought up the fruit and bit into it. He devoured the remaining flesh, thinking of how Kakarot had tasted like the juices after eating it, and how he’d felt in Turles grasp. If Vegeta hadn’t interfered at the last minute…

He felt his muscles bulge and his veins burn as the fruits power spread, and gritted his teeth against the sensation. He’d eat more, much more, many more, from now on.

Next time he saw Vegeta, the results wouldn’t be the same.

Turles would win, and then Kakarot would be his. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yea... Don't kill me, please? Ahahaha... 
> 
> Goku didn’t settle things as much as he thinks. Both Vegeta and Turles are obstinate bastards after all.
> 
> Expect an update again relatively soon.


	14. Promotion.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Vegeta proves, once again, that he’s a tenacious bastard.  
> And there’s a change of scenery.

 

Raditz didn’t prove hard to find. Vegeta found him standing outside what he presumed to be Kakarot’s quarters, arms crossed and feet placed wide apart for a heavy stand; clearly there to guard his younger brother. Vegeta sneered at the display. It would be a much easier solution to simply let Vegeta inside. From the sweet scent seeping into the hallway from the room, Kakarot too would probably prefer—

Vegeta shook his head. No. That wasn’t why he’d come here.

Raditz tensed up when he noticed Vegeta approaching. “S-stay where you are! I’m not letting you in.” He said, throwing out an arm to block the doorknob.

Vegeta rolled his eyes as he came to a stop and crossed his arms. “Idiotic as I find your brother’s decision, that’s not why I’m here. I can wait until he invites me himself; in the meantime you’re going to answer some of my questions.”

Raditz frowned nervously. “What questions?”

Vegeta gritted his teeth. Having to admit to any fault didn’t come naturally to him, but if he wanted to progress anywhere with Kakarot, then there was no getting around this. “What exactly is your brother looking for in a mate?”

The question seemed to throw Raditz for a loop. “Oh, uhm…” He looked nervously around, staring blankly at the wall. “I’m not… Sure? It’s not something I think he’s ever mentioned.”

“Tch. Make an educated guess then, or do you want me to jog your memory?” Vegeta asked, cracking his knuckles.

Raditz held up a hand. “No!” He strained his thoughts for a couple of moments. “I guess he wants someone he gets along with? Someone who’ll, uhh, take him seriously and respect him?”

Vegeta tilted his head. Getting along with Kakarot was a tall order, but the other part… “How am I not already doing that?” He growled, frustrated.

Raditz blinked. Was the prince being serious? “Well, you never actually courted him, for one. And you never took him fighting against you seriously, not even at the end I think. I mean, it didn’t even seem like you were planning on mating with him as much as…” Raditz trailed off, narrowing his eyes as Vegeta just remained silent at the accusations.

“You… Weren’t planning on mating with him, were you?”

Vegeta looked off to the side with a “Tch”, annoyed to have been seen through by an idiot like Raditz.

“You **_Bastard_**!” Raditz growled, clenching his fists and taking a step closer to Vegeta, for a moment forgetting the difference between his own and the prince’s power levels.

Vegeta snorted, rolling his head back around to look mockingly at Raditz. “No one could honestly expect me to mate with a third class with a power level only just above four thousand. He intrigued me a bit, is all.”

Raditz felt his nails biting into his palms. “Kakarot is a lot stronger than that!” He argued, unable to say anything against the other things. He couldn’t change the station of their birth.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes. “Yes… He is, isn’t he. Hence why I’m here.”

Raditz blinked, taken aback by the dark expression on the prince’s face. “I-I didn’t know! Kakarot being that strong… I knew the speed of his power growth wasn’t normal, but I don’t even think he _himself_ had predicted that.” He hurried to explain, referring to Goku’s last fight with Vegeta and how the beta’s power had soared.

“Nevertheless…” Vegeta mumbled, brushing the explanation off. “It made me change my mind. I’ve decided I want him.”

Raditz drew back, hesitating, and thrown by Vegeta’s blaze declaration. “What do you mean?” He asked, just to be sure.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I mean that next time, I’m making Kakarot mine. His hidden powers surprised me this time, that is all. I won’t make that mistake again.” Vegeta straightened up, looking down his nose at the still frowning Raditz. “Tell your brother that his fate has already been decided, and that he should feel honored. It’s not every day you’re made royal consort after all.”

Raditz felt the blood drain from his face. It would seem a single loss hadn’t deterred Vegeta, only spurred him on. But Kakarot was a stubborn bastard too, and worse, he thought he’d already gotten Vegeta to give up on him. It was a case of immovable force meeting immovable force, and Raditz feared he’d be stuck in the middle. “I’m not the one you’ll have to convince of that.” He settled on telling the haughty prince.

Vegeta snorted. “He won’t resist me next time.” After all, Raditz had, knowingly or not, told him what Vegeta needed to proceed.

Having said his piece, and gotten what he came for, Vegeta turned on his heel and marched off. The sweet scent trailing into the hallway was hard to ignore, clouding his judgement and sending his blood pumping, and he had no desire to be caught humping the third class’s door like a moron.

He’d leave the base for a bit, Vegeta decided. There were still parts of Frieza’s forces to destroy, and he needed a good battle. He wouldn’t stay gone too long though. It was clear that winning Kakarot over would take a bit more work than simply establishing his strength. He’d have to learn what he could about the beta. Speaking of, the data he’d gathered on Earth… Where had he put that again? He was going to do his homework this time. 

Raditz was left behind in the dust, fretting for the future. The shaggy haired saiyan turned around, watching his brother’s door before he thunked his forehead against it. “Goddamn but I wish you’d have been born an alpha instead.” He told the enforced metal.

xXx

It took almost five days before Goku could exit his room, and at the end of it he was sticky, sore and almost four kilos thinner, having been unable to keep much food down thanks to the roaring nausea, and also due to the loss of muscle mass.

A bath and a light but full meal made him somewhat better, but he still mostly felt like a wrung out dish cloth. A look at the mirror had shown a pallid face and dark circles under his eyes despite all the time spent in a medicated sleep. Dilla, who was sharing a meal with him in the infirmary, Goku not feeling up for the noise in the mess hall yet, patted him comfortingly on the shoulder.

“You’ll know how to prevent this from happening next time. Don’t worry. You’ll soon find your legs again.”

Goku stretched said appendages, hoping he wouldn’t be rewarded with another muscle cramp. God but he felt sore all over. “If this ever happens again I’m making you put me in a healing tank until it’s over.” He told his friend.

Dilla winced. “That wouldn’t work, seeing as there’d be technically nothing wrong with you.” She patted him again. “Well, next time just try to dodge Vegeta and you should be fine.”

Goku wondered about that. Raditz had informed him, right after Goku had emerged from his seclusion, that the saiyan prince actually hadn’t been deterred like Goku had presumed… Goku didn’t know what to think about that. On one hand it meant Vegeta would be up for having a proper fight with him, one where they both went at it without handicaps like exhaustion or heat, but on the other hand it meant… “Raditz said Vegeta is still planning on mating with me.”

Dilla removed her hand, face blank with surprise. “He does?! Wow… Well, he’s always been obstinate.”

Goku sighed, annoyed, and drank another spoonful of bone broth. “I don’t get it. It never seemed like he liked me much.”

Dilla tore a piece of her own bread and chewed it thoughtfully. “Well, he seemed really worried when he brought you back after you almost died. He put you in the healing tank himself and everything.”

“He did? Huh.” Goku gave up on the spoon and slurped the rest of his soup straight out of the bowl. “He never tried spending any time with me though.”

Dilla shrugged. “Maybe he was too shy?” She joked with a laugh.

Goku, who’d never been good at sarcasm, took it seriously. “Maybe. Who knows. Maybe I’ll see him sooner this time.” He grabbed the braised meat and greens and started chewing them slowly, for Goku standards, mindful of his sore stomach.

Dilla stared dully at her friend, wondering if she should bother explaining. In the end she let it go with a shake of her head and a sigh.

As they were finishing up, Raditz entered, wide-eyed and holding a tablet displaying something. “Kakarot! Have you heard? Did you check your messages?!”

Goku almost choked on a piece of cabbage. He coughed and hurried to swallow down a glass of water. “—Heard what?” He croaked. He’d just woken up and checking his inbox frankly hadn’t been first priority.

“You’re under consideration for Team A!” Raditz yelled, plopping down across from the betas and practically mushing the screen displaying the message against Goku’s face.

Goku pushed his brother’s arm away to a more reasonable distance to look at the message. His saiyan reading still wasn’t the best, but Dilla looked too and explained it to him.

“Seems like your power level finally got you noticed by internal affairs and staff and division control.” She read on for a bit. “You’re considered for a fringe team, which means you won’t be directly under Vegeta, so it’s probably not his work…” She skipped a couple of lines. “You’ll be under observation by a superior officer though, seeing as you haven’t been here long.”

“Is it so I don’t mess up with the equipment?” Goku asked, seeing as he was still bad at using most saiyan technology.

“Hmm, partially I suppose. But it’s probably mainly to make sure you’re not a spy sent to infiltrate us.” Dilla mumbled, not particularly faced by the insinuation.

Goku jumped. “What?! I’m not a spy!”

Raditz snorted. “Trust me. We know. But the higher ups don’t know how much of a ditz you are, so they’re taking precautions.”

Goku slumped down, hitting his forehead on the table. “Man… It’s just one thing after the other.”

Raditz reached over to clap his shoulder. “The bright side is that we finally get to leave this dump. We get to go to Base One!”

Goku looked up. “Base One… That’s the space station circulating Planet Vegeta right? That means I can talk to mom and dad!” He sat up, brimming with excitement.

Both Raditz and Dilla smiled at him. “Yea, dad sent me a message not too long ago, got it routed through Base One to here, telling us to hurry the hell up.” It had involved more curse words than that, but their father’s personality flaws weren’t important right now.

Goku squeezed the edge of the table. “Oh boy. I’m really nervous all of a sudden.”

Dilla laughed. “Promotion to one of the very highest Teams doesn’t face you, but meeting your parents does? Oh Kaka.” She giggled.

Goku blushed and scratched the back of his hair. “Well they haven’t seen me since I was three, so what if they don’t like how I turned out?”

Raditz reached over the table to smack him over the head. “Don’t be an idiot. Mom at least will be ecstatic to see you.”

“What about dad?”

Raditz hid a wince. “Eh, he’ll be as happy as he is about anything.”

Goku didn’t catch his brother’s tone, too excited. “Oh man. Whooo…” He breathed out deeply. “When are we leaving?”

Raditz shared a glance with Dilla who was still holding the tablet. “Whenever? I guess? Unless you need to do something here first?”

Goku tilted his head. “I have a couple of things from Planet Gultark in my room, but otherwise I can leave today.” He turned to smile at Dilla. “I can’t wait for you to meet my parents too.”

Dilla’s smile slid of her face. “… I’m flattered, but it’s not like I’m going.”

Goku’s eyes widened. “What? Why not?”

“I’m interning with doctor Basil here, remember? Doctors and medical personnel don’t move base as often, unless we ask for transfer, and frankly I’m not good enough to be considered for Base One yet.” She explained with a sad smile.

Goku slumped down. “Oh… But then when will I see you again?”

Dilla side hugged her frowning friend. “We can still video call each-other. Maybe you’ll have missions around this area, or maybe I’ll get moved to a more central base once Basil vouches for me. It’s not goodbye.”

Goku tilted his head to rest against his friends. “It’s gonna be weird without you. You’re my first friend here.”

“Hey.” Raditz complained.

Goku stuck his tongue out. “You don’t count, you’re my big brother!”

Dilla giggled. “I’ll miss you too. It’s gonna be a lot more quiet here with you gone.”

Raditz snorted. “More peaceful you mean. There’ll be no one around to blow up the hanger anymore.”

“I only did that onc…Two times!” Goku complained. “And the second time wasn’t my fault!”

“Tell that to the dock workers and whoever’s ship you blew up. I’m pretty sure there’s a price on your head out right now.” Raditz told them.

Dilla swiped Raditz with the tablet. “Don’t joke about that. Anyway.” She turned back to look between the brothers. “I’ll miss you both. Don’t forget to call me. Especially you Kaka!” She said, wagging a finger in front of his face. “I need to know what happens between you and Vegeta.”

From the other side of the table, Raditz growled. “Nothing. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“You don’t.” Goku told him mildly, before turning his head to smile at his friend. “I promise.” He said, holding up his little finger. Dilla linked it with hers with a smile, Goku having taught her about the pinky promise custom from Earth awhile back.

Raditz rolled his eyes at their antics. “Well, I’m going to pack up now. Let’s meet at the dock once you’re done Kakarot.”

“Yep!” Goku exclaimed with a smile.

It was time to see new places.

 

xXx

 

Base One would probably have been magnificent to look at, had it been visible to the naked eye. Goku pressed his face against the window of the ship, staring out at the vast expanse of stars and darkness, where the space station apparently was. Hidden by several shields as it was, only acknowledged ships were guided inside.   

But more than the invisible station, what really drew his eyes was his first ever sight of Planet Vegeta from space. Like a giant red marble ball, surrounded by two moons, the planet shone with a brilliance that stung Goku in the heart. He brought up a hand to squeeze the cloth covering his chest, surprised by the pang of homesickness he felt for a place he didn’t even remember. He’d never experienced it before, not for any place at least. Only when he’d lost his grandfather had he felt anything like it.

Raditz came up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder, his eyes distant as he gazed at their home planet. “It’s beautiful. No matter how many times I see it this close, the fact that I can’t reach it never stops being strange.”

Goku nodded. For his brother the feeling of homesickness had to be even worse. After all, Raditz remembered living on the planet together with their parents. Goku brought up a hand to cover his brother’s and together they watched the planet in silence while they waited for their ship to dock.

Goku’s heart beat fast as they disembarked. When he expanded his senses he could feel several large quantities of ki, many more than on Checkpoint 8. “There’s a lot of strong people here.” Goku noted to his brother, who snorted.

“Well of course. Mostly everyone here are elites. Checkpoint 8 didn’t have much more than foot soldiers. The fact that Team C, Turles and Vegeta even visited was a damn miracle.” Raditz didn’t mention how it had mainly been because of Goku’s arrival, not finding it necessary to stroke his brother’s ego like that. Catching the attention of a gods damn prince should be enough!

Goku looked around with wide eyes. He’d thought Checkpoint 8 had been big, but this place was enormous! It was hard to understand how something this large could be a manmade structure, or well, alien made. Goku giggled at his thought, earning him a side-eye from his brother.

They walked along the wide corridors of the place, niches with resting areas or food dispensers popping up every so often, as if this place was so massive that it demanded rest stops.

It turned out to be the case. They walked for half an hour, and Goku quickly lost his orientation in the spiraling halls where everything seemed to look the same. “Are we there yet?” He complained to his brother, not even sure where they were going in the first place.

Raditz sighed and mentally prayed that he never had to go on any sort of road trip with his younger sibling. “Yes, we’re checking in over there.” He pointed at a couple of doors behind a small waiting area. “Especially you. Depending on the duration of your stay you may get your own quarters. I’ll probably be put in the dormitory though...” Raditz grinned, turning his head to look at Goku. “Which means I’ll be crashing at your’s. I’m not dealing with a whole room full of stinking soldiers.”

Goku groaned. “No way. You’re a stinking soldier yourself, and you totally snore!”

Raditz grabbed Goku by the neck and got him in a headlock. “Shut up and do as I say. I’m the oldest.”

Goku twisted out of his brother’s hold with a growl. “I’m the strongest!”

“Ahem.”

Both brothers turned to look at the person interrupting, forgetting their fight. A small toad like person peered up at them, unimpressed. “If you’re both quite done, Ms. Netze is expecting you.”

Raditz saluted with a stressed look, while Goku merely tilted his head at the funny looking alien. He opened his mouth to say something probably unfortunate, but was pulled away by his brother before he could manage. Raditz didn’t let go of him before they’d entered the doors and were standing in a cool toned office, while a blue skinned woman glared frostily at them from behind her desk.

“Most A Team members take effort at arriving in a timely manner.” She said, eyes on Goku, while sliding a screen displaying a formula across the desk’s top. “Fill this out. Mr. Raditz is already in our system and has been checked in upon docking.”

Goku reached out for the tablet, scratching his hair at the sight of the questionnaire it displayed. “Raditz, can you help me with this? I can’t even read half of it.”

Raditz took the tablet and soundlessly guided Goku over to the side of the room where a couple of chairs stood. Raditz read the questions out loud, listened to Goku answers and then wrote them down himself. He had no time to guide the younger saiyan through it right now, wanting to get out of Ms. Netze’s sight and ire as fast as possible. The woman was notoriously unpleasant and prone to hold petty grudges.

“Uhh, Raditz, I don’t know my current power level.” Goku said, snapping Raditz out of his thoughts. He looked down at the screen, seeing how that was indeed the next question.

Ms. Netze turned a cool gaze their way. “I believe you were read to be a measly five thousand. Why you have been recommended for Team A is a mystery.”

Raditz scratched his hair. “That’s just when he’s suppressed.” He explained without making eye contact. “But I don’t think he should raise his powers here…” He looked at Goku for confirmation.

Goku nodded. “It’d really mess up the room. I’m not sure how well I’m able to control it yet.”

Ms. Netze wrinkled her nose, looking unconvinced. Nevertheless she brought up a formula on her own screen. “You’ll be scheduled for a time in a secured examination room. Go there after this.”

They managed to finish the list of questions, and were assigned quarters and a bunk in Raditz case without problem after that. Goku would have liked to go check his new room out right away, but Raditz insisted on getting him checked first.

“Trust me. Its better Netze gets her results as soon as possible. Woman’s a damn sadist.” He explained.

So Goku was pulled along and soon found himself in an indeed secure looking examination room together with Raditz and two curious looking aliens. No matter how long he spent in space, Goku thought he’d probably never get tired of how many different kinds of people there were.

A purple blotched alien with a long oval head slapped electrodes onto Goku’s skin before going back to his machines. “Any time now. We don’t have all day.” He said snappishly.

Goku cast a searching glance at Raditz, who wisely went to stand at the other side of the room before nodding. Goku turned his focus inwards then, closed his eyes, tensed his muscles and started powering up with a yell.

The two aliens looked at their machine as the number of the saiyan’s power rapidly rose from being in the single thousands to… “This-this isn’t possible!” The taller grey one exclaimed.

The snappish one was looking paler. Papers had started whipping around the room like a tornado had been released inside it, electricity and machines sparking as the saiyan’s power kept rising.

It all ended rather abruptly when the main machine’s screen flickered, sparked and then short circuited; the smell of singed plastic and metal spreading from it with a thin smoke.

Goku peeked one eye open with some strain; it was hard to control his new found power, and he probably still hadn’t gone all the way up. He simply didn’t know how to handle it. “Can I stop?” He asked.

“YES! Stop! Stop right this minute!” The purple blotched one screamed.

Goku let out a sigh and powered down with some relief. He flexed his hands, feeling how his limbs still tingled as if they had fallen asleep. Goku might have gotten a power boost, but just as he’d suspected, using it wouldn’t come as easily. He would have to train to utilize it properly. At least now he wouldn’t be distracted by heat or alphas anymore.

The grey alien was holding his head with a lost expression. “O-Our precious machine… Why? How could—“

“Uhm, so if you’re done, can I leave yet?” Goku asked, scratching the back of his head.

The grey one swirled around with an angrily pointed finger. “YOU! You’re not going anywhere. Not before we’ve examined every last inch of you!”

The purple blotched one rubbed his hands, face mean. “Let’s dissect him. Just a little.”

Goku kicked his way off the examination table, backing up frantically, hands up. “No way! I’m not consenting to that!”

“Well sew you up after.” The purple one argued, sounding as if he thought Goku was being unreasonable.

Raditz intervened before the situation could get any more out of hand. “Oookay. I’m stopping this right here. You two,” He pointed between the scientists. “You can put in the last power reading the machine managed to take in as his official one for now. You’re not dissecting a member of A Team, and I’m taking my brother out of here now.” Having said his piece he grabbed hold of Goku’s arm and dragged him, the electrodes still stuck to the younger saiyan’s skin be damned, out of the room.

Goku laughed nervously as they made it outside. “Man, I hope I won’t need medical attention while I’m here…”

“Just make sure it’s not those two clod heads. There are many more skilled doctors here.”

“Phew, that’s a relief. I wouldn’t wanna be unconscious around those two.”

Raditz dragged them towards where he knew Goku had been given a room, checking the route on his scouter every so often. “You’re gonna have to get in the habit of wearing a scouter now Kakarot.” He told his younger brother. “You’re never gonna manage to find your way around here otherwise.”

Goku hummed noncommittedly. “Hey Raditz, did you manage to see what my power reading was before the machine broke?” He asked, changing the subject.

Raditz grit his teeth for a moment. He had, and he hadn’t liked it. “Yea, it was almost sixteen thousand.”

Goku stumbled, only saved by the grip Raditz still had on his arm. “Sixteen?! Wow.” That was… Fairly mind boggling. Especially when Goku considered the fact that he hadn’t gone all the way up, having felt unsure if he’d be able to control it.

“Don’t sound so happy. The elites definitely won’t leave you alone after this. Having that high of a power… Damnit.” Raditz had hoped it had been some sort of fluke, an irregularity caused by heat, or that the scouters who had picked up Kakarot’s power level during the fight had been malfunctioning a bit; confused by Vegeta’s power interfering.

Goku could tell his brother was worried, but not about what. He knew the elites looked down on third classes, but he didn’t know why they would come after him just because he’d gotten stronger. As he wondered about this though, they’d finally made it to his quarters. They’d had to take some elevators going up, and Goku was surprised to see how the hallway they entered into looked lighter and more pleasant than the ones on the lower levels.

Raditz whistled, bad mood forgotten for a moment. “So this is how the other half lives, huh.” He walked forward, ignoring the lounge area and moving further along until they found a room with a blank electric name plate beside it. “Here we go. Let’s see, 8-7-6-2.” Raditz mumbled, plodding in the generic starting code Kakarot had gotten for the room’s security and settings.

“You want heightened gravity in there?” He asked Kakarot, who was straining on his toes to see behind him. The room would align its pressure as soon as they closed the door to the hallway behind them.

“Sure, just put it on 10G.” Goku said. He’d decided that he wanted to get completely used and comfortable with the gravity on Planet Vegeta, even if it didn’t look like he’d get a chance to visit the planet anytime soon.

Raditz did, and then they entered the room together. Raditz whistled again. “Well, it’s not exactly a full apartment, but you actually have a sitting area now. Fancy that.”

Goku peered around. It was at least double the space of his old room and seemed to have its own small bathroom. “I don’t really need this.” He noted.

Raditz smacked him over his head, a habit he had unfortunately gotten into. “Don’t complain. This is way nicer than any third class could ever expect to get. Man, the elites really know how to treat themselves.”

Goku rubbed the back of his head where Raditz had smacked him and went over to the dresser to put down his one small bag of belongings. It still wasn’t determined if Base One would be his permanent place of employment and deployment, and Goku had never been prone to getting attached to material things anyway, with only a few notable exceptions, like the four star ball and nyoibou, both of which he’d lost, come to think of it. Even Capsule Cooperation where Bulma had lived, an objectively amazing show of wealth and architecture, hadn’t really faced him much, even when he was a kid.

As long as he had a place to sleep Goku wouldn’t complain, but at least his brother seemed to be getting a kick out of the upgrade.

“I guess you can stay on the couch after all.” Goku said, feeling gracious despite his brother’s tendency to snore.

Raditz sighed and scratched his wild hair. “Nah, I think I’ll pass. I’m not up for the harassment the elites will give me if I stay here.”

Goku frowned. “Harassment?” He repeated.

Raditz shrugged. “You’ll probably be okay. You have an excuse to be here after all.”

“So do you, you’re my brother.” Goku argued.

Raditz laughed. “That’s cute.” He said, walking over and ruffling Goku’s hair. “But I’ll stick to visiting you during daytime. Or you can just visit me in the lower common areas. Wear your scouter, okay?”

Goku ran a hand through his messed up hair. “…Okay.”

“Don’t frown. Stay here until you figure out who your superior officer is and if you have any missions lined up. You can come find me after that, and we can go chat with mom and dad together, okay? I’ll send them a note telling them we’re here now and to expect our call.” Raditz said, trying to mollify his younger sibling.

Goku bit his lip in nervous excitement at the mention of their parents, but nodded, feeling a bit more pleased by having something to look forward to.

Raditz grinned, seeing that he’d succeeded in cheering his brother up, then threw a lazy salute and “See ya” Before leaving the room.

Goku watched his brother go before looking around his room again. He wondered if there were any training facilities on this level. He didn’t really feel like sitting around in his room to wait nervously. Thinking of that, he found his scouter and put it on, adjusting the green glass until it no longer bumped against his nose. Then he set off to explore.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this wasn’t a fantastically action packed chapter, but hey, I needed the transition.
> 
> On the plus side Bardock and Gine are soon showing up, and Vegeta gets to figure at that his pretty little bird has left its cage on Checkpoint 8. Ho boy. Now who could have a hand in that?


	15. New friends (and enemies)

 

Telling Goku to bring his scouter was all well and good, but Raditz had failed to show him how to bring up the schematics of Base One, forgetting that Goku still couldn’t read saiyan well enough to do it himself, and as such making the whole idea sort of futile.

By sheer luck, Goku had managed to find a training room though, and despite already being unsure of how he’d make his way back, he entered it feeling pleased. It even seemed to have gravity controls, bonus.

Four people were already inside, and they looked up when Goku entered. He took them in as they watched him back, counting three men and a woman. Or, no. Three alphas and a beta technically. At least he _assumed_ so, having never met another male beta beside himself. Goku still got the terms mixed up, especially because other saiyans seemed to use them relatively interchangeably most of the time too.

“Who’re you runt? You get lost or something?” A big burly guy with a mohawk asked.

The woman, who was the most curly haired saiyan Goku had ever seen, and was sitting on some sort of training bench rolled her eyes. “Tch. He’s probably our newest member, right? Looks like a scrawnier version of Bardock after all.”

They all looked Goku up and down.

“Huh. I guess you’re right.” One of the other men said. He was short and stocky and wearing a scouter. “I thought he’d be stronger than five thousand though…”

The third man, who was tall and lean, laughed. “It’s not like _you’re_ much stronger Korabi.”

“Shut up Pean.” The newly named Korabi grumbled.

The woman rolled her eyes again. “Anyway, I’m Sorrel and the big guy is Maze. I don’t remember your name, third class.”

Goku closed the door behind him and walked closer. He wanted to introduce himself with the name he’d been given on Earth, but he’d long since discovered that no saiyan cared to call him by it. “My name is Kakarot.” He told them instead, uncomfortable with introducing himself by that name for the first time.

“Kakarot, huh?” Sorrel said. “Well, I’m still gonna call you third class though, because that’s all you are.”

Pean laughed. “Wow Sorrel, that’s pretty cold.”

She stuck her nose up with a sniff. “Oh shut up pea-brain. Power level or not I’m sure you could all wipe the floor with him.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself?” Korabi grumbled.

Sorrel glared at the shorter man. “I _could_.” She hissed.

Goku scratched his head, feeling unwelcome, but not deterred yet. “I was actually hoping to get a spar in.” He offered, hopeful that someone would take him up on it. “I just spent almost a week in bed, and I’m feeling a bit rusty.”—And tired, sore and faintly nauseous. He probably just needed to eat and move around though.

All four peered at him curiously when he said that.

“So it’s true then; you’re a beta.” Pean noted.

“And apparently it was true that he decided to go through second stage heat himself.” Korabi added.

Sorrel tsked. “Bet the part about prince Vegeta is a lie though. No way he’d care about a third class.”

Maze didn’t say anything, simply stood with his feet wide spread and arms crossed. He was older than the rest, and Goku pegged him for a man of few words. Or maybe he just didn’t care for gossip, who knew.

Goku scratched his head scar, a nervous habit of his, and tried to change the subject. “Anyway, yea I’m a beta, but I’m not looking to mate or court anyone, so if anyone just wants to spar…?”

“Hmpf, don’t flatter yourself third class.” Sorrel snapped acidly. “Don’t assume everyone wants you.”

Pean tilted his head, looking amused. “Why not? He’s not bad looking.”

“If you’re into that kind of thing.” Korabi added meanly.

Goku was starting to feel like this conversation was going nowhere. “Right… So, I’m gonna go train over there now?” He said, pointing towards a free area. “Tell me if any of you changes your minds.”

Having said that Goku hurried over, and started by removing his outer armor. He still found it restricting to train with. He started going through his stances, doing a few kicks, hits and simulated blocks for each. His body really did feel sluggish, but he still warmed up this way for a while, and meanwhile he thought about how best to learn how to utilize his new powers. Maybe meditation would be the best first step? Simply focusing on keeping his ki steady, without adding movements which he’d also have to think about. He’d have to train using his heightened ki while moving for it to be useful in battle, but, oh well. He had to start somewhere.

Having decided, Goku easily sat down in the lotus position and closed his eyes. He focused inwards while he calmed his breathing. The way he’d raised his ki in the examination room had been explosive, in fact so far that was the only way he’d really tried raising his ki, being usually in the midst of battle and having a need to do it fast. Goku frowned. It was an oversight on his part, seeing as it didn’t lead to good control.

Massive power was useless if you couldn’t utilize it properly, that was a basic of martial arts, and Goku felt a bit ashamed to have forgotten. This time would be different.

Slowly he stroked his ki higher, raising it with each exhale like blowing on a flame. Deep breath, feed the flame, repeat. He lost track of time, focusing inside himself and calming his mind. Steady does it; he had no reason to rush.

Unbeknownst to Goku, his training soon stopped going unnoticed by the other A-team members in the room.

Pean was the first to take note. “Uuuh, Guys? Could you put your scouters on for a sec?”

“What now?” Sorrel hissed.

Korabi was already wearing his and simply turned it back on. “What the hell…” He muttered, checking on the settings as the counter displaying the newcomer’s power level slowly climbed.

Sorrel and Maze got theirs on to, and were equally surprised. “It’s over 8000?!?” Sorrel exclaimed.

By now everyone was watching the peaceful looking Kakarot, who was seemingly just simply sitting in the corner and looking like he wasn’t fucking with normal power conventions.

Sorrel swallowed, thinking of the rude way she’d spoken to the teen. “H-hey guys, the scouters are totally broken, right?”

“All four at the same time? I don’t think so.” Pean said, sweat gathering on his forehead as the pressure in the room increased, surely thanks to Kakarot. “It seems like the rumors weren’t bogus after all.”

Sorrel cast a wide-eyed glance at Korabi, but the smaller and stocky man was watching the newcomer too. “I guess Staff and Division Control weren’t fucking around after all. Holy hell.” He said.

“What’s curious,” Maze said, finally speaking up. “Is that they didn’t promote him sooner, given his power level.”

Pean hummed. “Well there was that whole thing where he just kept growing it really fast, right? My cousin on Checkpoint 8 said something like that.”

Sorrel sneered. “Your cousin also said the prince was gonna mate him, and he doesn’t look mated to me!” Luckily, lest she’d have insulted the prince consort.

Pean just shrugged. “Well, Kakarot only showed up recently. Maybe they’re still courting, who knows? You should probably lay off him in either case Sorrel.”

“Yea, even if Kakarot seems like a ditz who doesn’t care if you insult him, prince Vegeta definitely isn’t. You’ll wind up getting sent on some impossible mission and killed.” Korabi interjected.

Sorrel didn’t have any comeback for this, and simply watched as the other beta’s power continued to rise.

Goku decided, as he was meditating, to only about double his ki output from his baseline. He’d rather learn how to fight and move with that amount, before going further, than strain himself. Mind made up he opened his eyes and stood up, only to come face to face with the rather slack jawed members of his new team. Goku scratched his hair, uncomfortable with their stares. “Uh, hi? Did any of you decide you wanted to train?”

His question was met with a short silence, before Maze finally broke it to speak up. “Quite frankly Kakarot, no one on this team would be strong enough to match you, aside from maybe commander Zorn.”

Goku frowned, feeling a bit put out by that. “I mean, we could still compare techniques and stuff?” He suggested. There didn’t seem to be any takers though, and Goku coughed uncomfortably. He’d hoped to feel less like a pariah on the new base, but so far it didn’t look like he’d have much luck. “I guess I’m going back to my quarters then. Uhmm, see ya.” He waved awkwardly before turning, picking up his discarded armor and leaving.

Yea. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped.

xXx

Back in the corridors Goku quickly remembered how he still didn’t know his way around, and cursed himself for not at least asking his new teammates for a direction. Everything looked the same. Same cream walls, same carpeted floors and same potted plants. Aside for wondering at the last part, the saiyans didn’t seem like the type to do interior decorations after all, Goku didn’t think much of his new living conditions.

As he walked he came to an open gateway. On the other side of it the colors started to change to white, red and blue, and the same strange symbol seemed to repeat, being incorporated into the decorations.

It turned out to be a dead end though, and Goku groaned when all he found at the end was an elevator which only went up. He leaned on the wall for a moment, thinking over his options. Walking all the way back and still getting lost didn’t seem appealing, so going up to another floor might be better after all. Maybe he could find someone to ask for directions? Goku closed his eyes and searched for ki signatures. There turned out to be a fairly high one almost right above him. It felt strangely familiar.

“Huh. Up it is I guess.” Goku mumbled and pressed the button for the elevator.

Upstairs the color scheme continued with more gold thrown in. Goku didn’t spend time looking at the interior design though, instead he walked steadily towards the ki signature he’d felt downstairs. It led him to a set of sturdy double doors with a mean looking locking mechanism, but despite this, the doors were open. Goku peeked in, finding what looked like a fancy living room, pillows scattered around on the chaise lounges, various alien looking plants put out for decoration and a table holding a massive fruit bowl. Goku was tempted towards the last mentioned, but controlled himself. He didn’t want to be both caught stealing and trespassing, and something gave him the feeling he wasn’t supposed to be here. Despite that he walked further into the room.

“Uuhh, hello?” He called, feeling the ki signature being near but unable to pinpoint it.

“Who’s there?” Someone asked, and Goku swirled around to face them. Just to come up short.

“ _Vegeta_?!”

But no, Goku realized even as he called out. It wasn’t the saiyan prince he knew. This guy was a bit shorter, his face looked milder and he had bangs. The stranger’s resemblance to Vegeta was uncanny though, and Goku thought they were probably related. Then again, Turles had looked an awful lot like Goku, and they apparently didn’t share any known common ancestry. Not wanting to jump to conclusions, and a bit embarrassed by his outburst, Goku hurried to introduce and explain himself.

“Oh, hi! Sorry for yelling, you just look like—Anyway, I’m kinda lost, and I don’t know how to bring up the path finding thingy on my scouter. I’m sorry for barging in, but do you think you could—“

“—You’re Kakarot, aren’t you?” The stranger interrupted, voice curious but mild.

Goku blinked. “Yea, that’s me. How’d you know?”

The stranger smiled. “I heard rumors about my brother courting you, so I tried to find out what you looked like, in case I ran into you. It proved pretty easy though; everyone told me you looked like a softer version of Bardock.”

Goku scratched the back of his hair. “Everyone keep saying that, but I haven’t actually seen my dad yet. Anyway, who’re you? You look like Vegeta, but…” That didn’t necessarily mean anything, taking Turles into account. Goku had noticed how saiyan facial features generally seemed to repeat, even among non-relatives.

“I’m his younger brother, Tarble. Nice to meet you!” Prince Tarble introduced himself, before looking Goku curiously up and down. “Say, how did you get in here though? There are both guards and doors which are supposed to have stopped you.” He wondered.

Goku blinked. “Well, I didn’t meet any guards, and the doors were open.”

Tarble's eyes widened and he stalked past Goku to look at the indeed open doors. “Ack. That… May be my fault. I’m a bit forgetful sometimes.” He drew back with a small embarrassed laugh. “It’s pretty bad that you managed to slip around the guards though… I guess someone is snoozing on their post instead of patrolling, I’ll have to look into it.” With that said, Tarble walked over and sat down on a chaise lounge, patting the seat beside himself with an encouraging look at Goku.

“Stay for a bit and tell me about yourself and my brother. He doesn’t call me much.” Tarble encouraged with a small smile.

“You sure you don’t mind?” Goku asked as he walked over and sat down as prompted.

Tarble waved his hand. “Not at all. I wasn’t doing anything right now, and it gets boring being a prince when no one really wants to talk to you out of fear of your father and brother.” His smile got a bit strained at the last part. “Anyway, have some fruit.”

Goku took him up on the offer, quickly snagging several pieces; many were things he hadn’t tried yet. Hopefully eating would help him feel less exhausted too, seeing as the training he’d done hadn’t really helped. He managed to eat four before he remembered his manners. “Ah, so what do you wanna know?”

Tarble had been watching him, chin rested in his palms while he leaned his elbows on his half drawn up knees, and he didn’t move from this positon as he asked his question. “How did you and my brother meet?”

Well, there was no good way to put this. “He came to my planet and kidnapped me after knocking me unconscious.” Goku told him flatly.

Tarble predictably winced and made a face. “Oh… That… does sound like him.” He muttered unhappily.

Goku continued with blaze honesty, figuring he might as well power past the bad parts. “Then he almost killed me in a fit of rage, but after that he brought me on a mission where they needed my ability to control my power output, and when I died he revived me and carried me to safety, saving my life.” There, the last part didn’t sound so bad when put like that. Of course Vegeta was the one who’d told him to distract opponents way stronger than Goku, hence getting him killed, but omission wasn’t really lying, and Tarble seemed to be perking up. Goku wasn’t about to trash talk the brother of someone who had been kind and offered him food.

In fact the younger prince was starting to look downright starry eyed. “He revived you? And saved your life? Wow… Did anything else happen?”

Goku took a bite of fruit and looked upwards to give himself some time to think. “Uhm, well, before that we went to see the elder together, and we shared some food, or I shared it with Vegeta anyway.” He took another bite. “Oh! And I thought him how to sense energy and how to control how much you show at any time, but then we fell asleep together.”

Tarble reached over and clasped their hands together. “I can hardly believe it! You really shared your food with him? That’s so daring. And falling asleep together, ahhh…” Tarble cupped his own cheeks, blushing.

Goku was amused by the younger prince’s mannerisms, and wondered just how young he really was compared to Vegeta. “What’s so daring about sharing food?” He wondered.

Tarble blinked at him. “You don’t know? When a beta shares their food, and it’s not a case of survival or anything like that, then it’s seen like a-a-“ He gestured with his hands, trying to find the right description. “Like an invitation almost? Like telling someone, ‘hey, notice me’. Or something.” He said, looking down, scratching his spiky hair and blushing.

Goku ruminated on that for a moment. It was several months ago, but far as he remembered, Vegeta _had_ seemed rather surprised by Goku offering him the glazed meat. “Huh. Didn’t know that.” He mumbled. “Oh well, he took the meat and didn’t say anything about it, so it’s probably fine.”

Tarble nodded, with an amused and slightly sly smile. “It must have been if you _fell asleep_ together.”

Goku frowned, unsure why Tarble put strange pressure on the words. “We really just slept. It wasn’t that interesting, and it was kinda cold. There was snow everywhere.”

Tarble didn’t seem particularly put out by this though. “Would you just sleep beside anyone though?” He asked, eyebrows lifted.

Goku hesitated. He hadn’t really thought about it, but now that Tarble mentioned it. “…No, I guess not. I wouldn’t be able to relax around most of the other saiyans.” He wondered if it had been because he’d already felt like he knew Vegeta at the time. Or maybe he just hadn’t had the time to get nervous around his own species yet, not really understanding their level of unfriendliness yet at the time.

“See! Brother too wouldn’t fall asleep next to just anyone either.” Tarble stated, self-assured. Goku let him keep his opinion, eating another piece of fruit instead.

“What happened next?” Tarble asked excitedly.

Goku shrugged. “Not much. I was grounded on base for two months while Vegeta went off to fight somewhere for most of that time. I trained a lot and got a lot stronger. Then this other alpha, Turles, showed up and wanted to court me, and I said no but he kept going anyway I think. We sparred, which was kinda fun” He left out the part where he’d gone to find Turles at ship and had eaten the fruit. Even if he didn’t care overly much for the other man, Goku had promised to keep quiet about it, and a promise was a promise.

Tarble looked momentarily devastated. “What about brother?!?”

Goku sighed. “Well, he turned up again and seemed really agitated. He said he wanted to test my strength by fighting me, so we sparred and I sorta, uhm…” He didn’t really like to talk about this part, and actually hadn’t told anyone so far, not even his brother and Dilla. Only Vegeta knew, having been there at the time. Goku glanced at Tarble who was looking at him attentively. He did sort of want to get it of his chest though, and despite being a relative stranger, Tarble seemed nice and easy going. Maybe it would be nice not to carry it around in his own head anymore.

“If I tell you something, will you promise not to mention it to anyone?” Goku asked, wanting to be sure about that first.

Tarble nodded vigorously. “Of course! I wouldn’t break your trust like that! If there’s ever anything you feel like you can’t even talk to Vegeta about, just come to me!”

Tarble figured Kakarot might be his ticket to getting at least _one_ nice and relatively functional family member, and really didn’t want to screw it up.

Goku didn’t know that he’d already been mentally transcribed by Tarble as ‘future brother in law’ but was satisfied with the younger prince’s honest promise nonetheless. “Right. Okay then.” Goku said, rubbing the back of his neck. “So after Vegeta won our spar, I kinda lost control for a moment and almost barred my throat, which was really embarrassing because he hadn’t even asked me to do that, but what I didn’t know was that my first heat had just started, so it couldn’t be helped, right?” Goku asked, almost out of breath by stumbling through the story as fast as he could and without breaks. He wanted confirmation though.

Tarble gasped, hands flying up to cover his mouth. “Oh my gosh!” He simply stared at Goku for several moments, during which time Goku rapidly started to sweat more. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything…

Finally Tarble shook himself out of it. “Are you two already mated then?” He asked, looking searchingly at Goku’s neck.

Goku covered his bare skin with a hand self-consciously. “No. As I said, it was an accident and I didn’t know I was going into heat. So I left with my brother when Vegeta was distracted.”

“Did brother come to find you then?”

Goku shrugged. “Later yea… Turles were kinda trying to fight me into mating him at the time, so Vegeta flipped out a little bit, I think.” Goku pursed his lips. “I don’t really get why. It’s not like he’d asked me to court and anything, but then after he’d defeated Turles he started going on about me submitting to him, which I didn’t want to do.”

“What?! You didn’t?” Tarble asked, wide-eyed.

Goku snorted. “No way. Your brother is kinda a dick, sorry to say. I fought him and won instead, then spent almost a week being miserable thanks to my body not getting the memo. My brother Raditz told me it didn’t make Vegeta give up though.” He said the last part while poorly disguising his bitterness. Clearly his win hadn’t been secure enough if Vegeta had just bounced back like that. Well, Goku kind of agreed with that assessment though. Vegeta hadn’t really been beaten as much as shocked into inaction by Goku’s sudden refusal to continue the fight after briefly pinning the alpha.

Tarble looked practically heartbroken at the news. Goku thought the boy needed a tv or some sort of entertainment. He was clearly too invested in this. “B-but then what?! What happened then?!” He insisted.

“Not much. I only got out of seclusion this morning. Hence I’m still feeling a bit famished.” Goku said, holding up his who knew which number of fruit. The bowl was practically empty by now.

Tarble’s entire body seemed to slump. “I can’t believe this... Brother you idiot.” Tarble mumbled the last part resentfully.

Goku sniggered. “Well, I’m kinda curious what he’ll do next, but I don’t think he knows I’m here.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Tarble asked, looking up at Goku from his slump.

“No.” Goku chortled.

“Kakarooot! That’s so mean!”

Goku made a face at his saiyan name being pulled out like that, before an idea struck him. “Say Tarble, can I ask you to do something?”

Tarble perked up. “Will it make you talk to brother again?”

Goku shrugged non-committedly. “I was wondering if you’d call me Goku? Son Goku was the name I went by on Earth, while not even remembering that I was a saiyan, and I really miss being called that.”

“Son Goku.” Tarble repeated, tasting the alien name. “I-I guess I can? It’d be almost like a nickname?”

“Sure!” Goku agreed, hopeful to have someone calling him by what he considered to be his actual name despite the circumstances.

“Alright then, Goku.” Tarble agreed with a smile.

Goku was so happy that he reached over and pulled Tarble into a brief hug. “Thank you!” He exclaimed.

Tarble wasn’t used to physical affection and froze solid for a moment, before slowly thawing against the taller saiyan’s chest. He hesitantly brought his arms around the beta and hugged back, enjoying the rare warmth. He hoped that Vegeta would pull himself together so Tarble could keep this. “Y-you’re welcome, Goku.”

Goku drew back, smiling brilliantly. “I’m really happy I got lost. Otherwise I wouldn’t have met you, and I was really worried about having no friends around here!”

“F-friends?” Tarble stuttered, not being able to say that he had any of those himself either.

“Yea! We’re friends, right?” Goku asked with a head tilt.

Tarble had to fight back tears for a moment. “Yea! Definitely!” He agreed.

Goku pumped his fist with a grin. “Great! Now I finally have someone to train with aside from Raditz.”

“Train with?” Tarble repeated, enthusiasm dampening a bit.

“Yea, you’re pretty strong, I can tell.” Goku said.

“Oh, with your power sensing, right?” Tarble looked down, running a hand over his neck. “I guess I’m okay if you just look at that, but I’m not considered much of a warrior.” His voice grew weaker as he talked.

Goku frowned, seeing how his new friend slowly pulled into himself. “Why not?” He demanded.

Tarble fiddled with his hands and shrugged minutely. “I’m… They say my mind is too weak. I’ve never liked battle, and I’ve always hated killing and hurting others, so I’m not very…” His voice was practically a whisper. “I’m not a proper saiyan.” He finished, closing his eyes and waiting for judgement.

It didn’t come.

“That’s just nonsense!” Goku exclaimed, causing Tarble to straighten up with surprise. “I’ve met a lot of people who didn’t want or like to fight, but who did so anyway to protect the people and things they really cared about. I don’t think that makes them weaker. Fighting to save someone only makes you stronger, because you have to carry that extra weight, and you know what’ll happen if you fail.” Goku finished determinedly.

Tarble stared at the saiyan before him, finally losing his fight against his tears, drops slowly starting to glide down his cheeks. Goku watched with surprise as Tarble started crying, tears overflowing and nose starting to run.

“N-no one’s e-ever told me something l-like that!” Tarble cried, hiccupping and hiding his messy wet face in his hands.

Goku stared bewildered for a moment, unsure what to do with himself, before settling on laying his hands gently on Tarble’s shoulders. “Well, if you want me to, I’ll tell you as many times as you need it, okay?”

Tarble nodded, and still blubbering threw himself back into Goku’s chest where he cried for a while. As the smaller saiyan worked through what seemed like a lot of pent up stress, Goku ran his fingers through the prince’s dark hair soothingly, noting its difference from Vegeta’s which was almost auburn tinted and could actually look a dark rusty red in some lights.

It took some time, but finally Tarble drew back, face swollen, red and blotchy, but still looking like a burden had been lifted from him. “Th-thank you Goku.” He croaked. The sudden breakdown had been a bit embarrassing, but he felt better now. Lighter. He’d probably needed that cry for a while.  

Goku just smiled. “Anytime. Don’t mention it. Want me to get you some water?”

Tarble shook his head. “I’m gonna go freshen up for a bit. Just… You can stay if you want?”

Goku shrugged. “I have to figure out who my superior officer is before I can go meet my brother to talk to our parents, so I probably can’t stay for too long, but it can wait until after you get back.”

Tarble nodded, relieved, and went to the bathroom from which running water could soon be heard. Goku looked at the almost empty fruit bowl, but decided to save a piece for Tarble. He might need it after having cried like that.

Still, it had been surprising. Tarble really didn’t seem to be cut from the same cloth as the other saiyans, wearing his emotions on his sleeve, though the difference did seem to bother the younger prince. Goku liked it though. Tarble reminded him more of the humans he’d grown up with, and it lessened the small pang he felt when he thought about them. They were probably fine though. Even if Piccolo decided to make trouble again, if all the other Earth warriors banded together they could probably manage to take him down, so Goku wasn’t worried.

“Thanks for waiting.” Tarble said, reappearing from the bathroom. “I know you said you needed to leave, but do you want me to send for a guard to guide you? Even if I help you with your scouter, leaning to use the directions program takes a bit of practice.”

“Hmm, that’d probably be for the best then.” Goku allowed.

Tarble smiled back, happy to be of help. “I’ll get you cleared with security so you can enter this floor unhindered. I doubt you’ll be able to infiltrate it so easily again.”

Goku made a face. “Eh, I didn’t infiltrate anything. When I try to do that I’m usually caught.”

“As opposed to when you don’t try?” Tarble asked with a laugh.

“Exactly.”

They both laughed, and after settling down, Tarble went over to a big flat screen and turned it on. “Just a moment. I’ll call one of the A-team commanders who’s present on the base. He’ll probably know where you need to go to find your commanding officer.”

The screen flickered for a while as the call went through, but finally someone picked up. _“Yes?”_ The man asked, his face appearing on the screen like he was looking down, probably answering the call on a wrist pad.

“Hi Zorn. I have an—“

“ _I’m sorry prince Tarble, but I don’t have time right now. The newest A-team member has upped and disappeared, and we’re not sure how trustworthy he is yet. His power growth hasn’t seemed natural._ ” Zorn replied brusquely.

“Oh.” Tarble glanced back at Goku, who just shrugged and rolled his eyes. Tarble smiled, reassured. “Actually, I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to listen then.”

“ _What? Did something happen? Did the spy do something?!_ ” Zorn asked, voice stressed.

Tarble shook his head and stepped to the side so Goku came into view. “Not at all. He’s just here, with me, is all.”

The screen started flickering, the view jumping around as Zorn appeared to start running while cursing magnificently.

Goku looked nervously at Tarble as the transmission cut off. “So, I just wanna say, I’m definitely not a spy. I can’t even find my way around a spaceship, much less fly one, so I’d be pretty useless at spying on anything.”

Tarble nodded. “I believe you. If you were really sent to harm us, you’d have taken your chance while you were alone with my brother, who’s the head of our resistance. He might be strong, but he’s not immune to something like poison, and his guard was lowered around you on several occasions.” Tarble reasoned.

Goku gulped. “Whoa, that’s pretty dark. I’m amazed you could think that.”

Tarble smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You wouldn’t be the first person close to us who tried to exploit your position, or the first assassin, though no one has ever managed to make it as far as Base One.”

Goku frowned. “I hate that. It sucks.”

“As you said.” Tarble agreed. “But it seems like Zorn might not be so believing of you. So brace yourself or… Actually just stand behind me. It’ll get you out of the direct line of fire.”

Goku got up and hid himself behind the shorter Tarble best as he could. “Sorry. Thanks for protecting me though.”

“Of course.” Tarble said, puffing out his chest. “I’m an alpha too you know?”

Before they could say anything further Zorn arrived, knocking a chaise lounge out of his way and clear across the room with the force of his hurry. “Prince!” He yelled, looking around wildly, hands already glowing with charged energy attacks.

Goku got a read on the man’s ki and was suddenly glad to have hidden behind Tarble. Those shots would have smarted.

“I’m perfectly alright Zorn. Please don’t attack Goku.”

Zorn finally found Goku and Tarble and locked onto them, stalking closer threateningly like a large cat. “So you’ve shown your true colors and taken the prince hostage I see.” Zorn accused, eyes locked on Goku.

Tarble sighed. “No one has taken anyone hostage Zorn, please calm down. Right now I’m protecting him from _you_.”

Goku had hunched down behind Tarble’s back, but now dared to peak around from just above Tarble’s shoulder. “It’s true sir. Please don’t shoot me.” He asked, eyes wide and pleading, and with some level of respect given the situation.

Zorn growled, seeming unmoved, but Tarble held out his arm, further covering Goku. “Zorn! Stand _down_. That’s an order.”

Finally Zorn stood up from his prowl and let the energy gathered in his palms dissipate. “Y-your highness… Please be reasonable.”

“I am being reasonable Zorn. You’re the one barging in without orders, threatening to attack my friend and future brother in law.” Tarble said angrily, sounding remarkably like Vegeta in that moment.

Goku poked him in the shoulder nevertheless. “Haven’t actually agreed to that yet.” He muttered, referring to his relationship with Vegeta which currently… Wasn’t. Tarble seemed to ignore this, but Zorn sent Goku a fierce look, having clearly caught the complaint.

“Sit down, Zorn.” Tarble ordered, tone hard. “I understand your concern and swift response given the looks of the situation, but I’ve given you your orders.” Tarble turned his head to look at Goku then, expression growing immediately gentler. “Please stay beside me Goku, but let’s sit down too.” He suggested.

Goku nodded and together with Tarble inched closer to the lounges until they could both sit down. Zorn had already sat himself down in the one across from them, expression mulish. “How is he even here?” Zorn demanded to know, nodding towards Goku, tone still hostile.

Tarble sighed and ran a hand through his hair, calming down from the tension following the threat of an attack. “Blame that on your guards. He simply walked in after getting lost. If you look at security footage I’m sure you’ll find that to be true.”

Zorn frowned but immediately brought up his wrist pad to plod in something, probably demands to check on the guards and footage.

Tarble let the commander do as he pleased, watching mildly until the older man was done. “Now then. Goku was, as mentioned, lost. He was trying to find his commanding officer, so he could be briefed.”

Zorn narrowed his eyes. “Well he found him. Kakarot’s superior officer is _me._ ”

Both Goku and Tarble went mum at that, and Goku felt himself grow pale. This was much worse than the first impression he’d made on his other team members in the training room.

Tarble was visibly thrown too. “O-oh. Well then. Problem solved?”

Goku grabbed hold of Tarble’s arm, pretty unwilling to leave with Zorn right at that moment. “Maybe I could be briefed here?” He laughed nervously, mildly panicked.

Tarble noticed his friend’s distress and nodded vigorously. “Certainly! I’m supposed to be aware of A-team missions too, so it’s no problem!”

Zorn showed a hint of a glinting fang before he huffed and finally settled back into the sofa. “Fine. You outrank me prince Tarble, so I have no choice.” He didn’t look happy about this. “Kakarot. Your position on fringe team-A2 is directly below me. You go where I go during work time, and do as I say during _all_ times. Since the beasts already out of the bag, I regretfully have to inform you that you’re also under observation. Your power growth appears suspicious, and your relationship with prince Vegeta, and now prince Tarble, is cause for concern.”

Goku gulped. Seemed like Raditz had been right again; Goku _had_ drawn some negative attention with his sudden power burst and rapid growth. “M-my brother said our father showed some of the same tendencies when he was still fighting off planet…” Goku tried to excuse himself.

Zorn’s face darkened briefly. “Ah, yes. _Bardock_.” He made the name sound like a curse word. “It’s possible that you’re simply the result of a genetic quirk which you’ve inherited from your father, but I’m not taking any chances.”               

Tarble raised an eyebrow at this, but didn’t make any interjections.

Goku merely bit his lip and frowned. He had clearly not gotten off to a good start with his direct superior, which was bound to suck. Raditz would totally laugh at him once he found out.

“So, uhm. Do I have anything I need to do now? I promised to meet my brother afterwards…” Goku trailed off, voice small. Tarble squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“I’m sure Zorn will inform you directly of any missions or training regiments you need to attend.” Tarble said pointedly, eyes on Zorn. “In the meantime I’ll get you a guard to lead you to one of the private communication rooms so you can call your parents.”

Goku looked up at his friend, still hunched over but surprised at how self-assured Tarble seemed. The alpha hadn’t given off that impression at all when Goku had first talked to him. Like this it was even easier to see the resemblance between the young prince and Vegeta.

Zorn looked pissed but couldn’t very well ignore a direct suggestion from his prince. “Very well. It will be done.” He said, before standing up, bowing rigidly, and walking out.

Both Tarble and Goku slumped down like their strings had been cut once Zorn finally left. “Oh man that was scary!” Goku exclaimed.

Tarble just laughed and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He’d never liked or been good at standing up to the older generals, but with Goku behind him, looking afraid, it had suddenly seemed… Not easy, but like something he had to do, and was more than capable of. He thought of what Goku had said to him, just minutes ago. About how fighting for the sake of someone else could make you strong, and once again Tarble thought about how right that statement felt to him. Much more right than the saiyans instinctual lust for battle.

Tarble turned his head and smiled at Goku. “I’ll call the guard now, okay?”

Goku nodded and the duo settled peacefully into the lounges as they waited for the guard to arrive, both taking a breather after Zorn’s rather stressful appearance.

Once the guard turned up, Goku waved bye to Tarble, promising to be back the next day if his schedule allowed it, before walking out with the guard whose curiosity was plain to see. He probably wanted to know what a newcomer, and a third class at that, was doing in the royal quarters, but Goku didn’t offer any explanations as they walked. By now he’d learned that the saiyan rumor mill was pretty cutthroat and that it was better not to feed it, even if it was to explain yourself. Baseless ideas behind your actions had much less impact than if the gossiper could back it up with something you’d said.

It took a while to walk to the private communication room, but Goku still got the feeling that Tarble had ordered him to be led to one usually reserved for the royals themselves, or at least the generals. The guard faced him, still standing in the doorway as Goku looked around the room.

“Will there be anything else sir?” The guard asked respectfully, and Goku noted bemusedly how he probably outranked this man now, after making it on to the A-team. It was a weird thought.

“No, I’m fine. Will my brother be here soon?”

“He should arrive shortly.” The guard offered, before bowing, one arm across his chest, and backing out.

Goku sat down in one of the plush chairs to wait for Raditz. It didn’t take long.

“Kakarot?” His brother asked, opening the door slowly.

“Yea, I’m in here.”

Raditz swung the door open then and walked all the way inside. He whistled. “How the hell did you get unto this floor? A guard had to come to find me and bring me here with some sort of special clearance just so I wouldn’t be stopped. Everyone seemed to be running around in a tizzy too. Something about a spy being not actually a spy?”

Goku sweat-dropped. “Ahh, he he he. How strange?” He said, voice strained. Luckily Raditz was too distracted to catch on.

 “Well whatever. I’ll just ask someone about it in the mess.” He cracked his knuckles and walked over to the screen, starting to tap in the communication information to reach a specific settlement on planet Vegeta.

“So, are you ready to meet our parents?”

Goku swallowed and clenched his hands. “Yes!”

The call started to go through.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tarble surprise!  
> It’s only a matter of time before I start messing up with Tarble’s name and Turles’. They’re too close!
> 
> Kohlrabi, French sorrel, maize and pea. Making characters up on the fly as you come to need them. Zorn is anime canon though. 
> 
> Errh, I forgot about Vegeta… Fuck. Well, next chapter then.


	16. Parental permission.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally. Family time!

 

Goku held his breath as the call slowly went through, and Raditz came to stand beside him, arms crossed. They both watched as a woman’s face slowly appeared on the screen.

She had wild dark brown hair reaching her shoulders, peach pale skin and round almond eyes. She looked very young, which confused Goku who didn’t know how slowly saiyans aged. Was this his mom?

The woman’s expression brightened when she finally got a look at them, but even as she smiled, her eyes filled with tears. “Oh… Look at you. My little boy; you’ve gotten so big.” She said, eyes on Goku and voice full of emotion.

Goku felt a lump forming in his throat. “M-mom?”

The woman nodded and laughed wetly, continuing to cry tears of joy. From beside Goku, Raditz took a step forward, expression longsuffering. “Kakarot’s just fine mom, please stop crying.”

Instantly their mother’s wet eyes flashed with ire. “Don’t tell me what to do Raditz!” She snapped through her tears, before her expression grew mild again as she turned her focus back to Goku. “Oh Kakarot, you look so much like your dad. You’ve grown up to be so _handsome._ ”

Goku scratched his hair and looked down, feeling a bit embarrassed. “I dunno… I think I sorta look like you too?” They had the same peach colored skin, soft features and round eyes.

She smiled. “Maybe around the eyes and mouth… Try lifting your head?” She demanded gently. Goku did. “Hmm, yes. Your chin is slimmer, and you’re so pale too, not like your dad or brother. Are you eating enough? Getting enough sunlight? It’s not healthy to be stuck in space all the time.” She worriedly observed.

Raditz rolled his eyes. “He’s getting better about eating, don’t worry so much.”

“Of course I worry! I’m your mother!”

Goku tilted his head, looking up at Raditz. “What do you mean ‘getting better at eating?’” He wondered.

Raditz looked down at him with a shrug. “Just that when you first got here you didn’t eat much for a saiyan. I figured it was something you might have had to get used to on Earth, so I didn’t mention it.”

This was surprising news. On Earth Goku had always been called a pig and a glutton for eating like he did, and even then he rarely felt full after a human meal. “I was usually hungry a lot of the time I guess…” He thought over how he’d felt since he was taken. Of course he’d been stressed, but that usually only increased his appetite, and yet he’d never felt like he was skipping meals, a sensation he was otherwise quite used to. “I actually haven’t had that problem since I came here.” He observed with some surprise.

“Well of course,” Raditz said, “You’re among other saiyans now, so you’re finally getting the amount you need.”

On the screen their mother clasped her hands together, sending a smile her older son’s way. “I’m really happy that you’re looking out for Kakarot, Raditz. We didn’t have time to send any information with him back then, and then we got a rapport stating that he had memory loss!” She shook her head, distressed. “I’m sure it must have all been very confusing for you Kaka.” She lamented.

Goku chuckled awkwardly. “I guess yea… At first I was really angry about getting kidnapped and dragged here, but then I got to meet Raditz and he told me about you guys…” Goku blinked. “Speaking of, where’s dad?”

On screen Gine tsked and looked to the side, eyes focused on someone in the room with her. “You hear that Bardock? Get your butt over here.” She demanded, pointing at the seat next to her.

Some intelligible mumbled curses could be heard as their father slowly made his way into the view of the screen and sat down. Goku stared. Their father was tall, almost as tall as Raditz, and his suntanned skin looked tough, covered in scars as it was. His hair was the same style and ink black color as Goku’s and his eyes just as dark, and though their faces looked similar Bardock’s expression was a lot grumpier.

Bardock ran his eyes over his youngest son, taking in his wide honey brown eyes, creamy skin and overall soft impression. He sighed. “I’d been told you looked just like me, but what the hell.” He turned his face to his mate, while pointing at Goku with a finger. “How exactly does he look like me Gine? Huh?”

Gine slapped his arm. “Oh shush. He’s still young. I’m sure once the baby fat comes off he’ll look like your damn clone.”

Bardock snorted, unconvinced, but he looked back at the boy nonetheless. “I hear you’ve gotten yourself mixed up with Vegeta.” He told his youngest, not bothering with greetings or ‘I missed yous’ like Gine had.

Goku startled at the sudden sharp attention from his father. “Oh, uhm. Yes? Once everyone figured out I was a beta…” He trailed off. Raditz had told him how their parents, most likely their father, had fudged his paperwork to make Goku appear to be an alpha.

Bardock narrowed his eyes, but then just closed them with a sigh. “Well, I figured they would once you were found, assuming you lived that long. At least Earth shouldn’t have proved too difficult for you to handle with the earthlings’ low power levels.”

“Errh, sure,” Goku laughed nervously, thinking of the red ribbon army and how demon lord Piccolo had actually almost killed Goku, before Piccolo Junior tried finishing the job. “No problems.” He understated.

“Anyway,” Bardock continued blazely, “Why haven’t you told that pain in the ass to beat it yet?” He asked, referring to Vegeta.

Gine jabbed her mate sharply with an elbow. “ _Bardock_.” She hissed. “Let Kakarot tell us how he’s been so far, and I’m sure it’ll come up.” She looked at Goku. “We’ve heard all sorts of rumors, but we want to hear it from you Kaka.” She told her youngest. Bardock harrumphed and looked away while crossing his arms, but wisely didn’t argue.

Goku blinked, and fumbled with his fingers. He was glad he’d eaten all that fruit while talking to Tarble, because this would take some time. Even though he _had_ started feeling nauseous after stuffing himself… It was probably just the nerves. “Well, I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but the one who came and grabbed me was actually Vegeta, and then—“

It did indeed end up taking a while.

Goku found it easier and easier to talk to his parents as he went on, waving his arms and miming situations. Raditz came with rejoinders too, offering his own views on certain situations. Gine laughed at her son’s antics, while Bardock mostly stayed quiet; only the occasional growl, grunt or huff betraying his interest.  

“—So after Raditz left me at my new room, I went to train, and I met some members of my new team, but they didn’t seem to like me… Anyway, then I ended up getting lost and somehow I made it into the royal wing, which was actually good, because there I met Tarble and we became friends!” Goku exclaimed happily.

Bardock, who’d been sipping some sort of alcohol while half-listening, did a spit take. Gine had to pound her mate’s back as he coughed the liquid out of the wrong pipe; meanwhile Raditz facepalmed. “Of course you did.” He muttered, longsuffering. He’d mentally given up on his brother a long time ago. At least this explained how Kakarot had gotten onto this floor and permission to use this room.

Bardock finally seemed to regain his breath. “You’ve run into that little pest too?” He asked, making a face.

Gine stopped pounding Bardock’s back in favor of smacking him over the head. Goku finally realized where Raditz got the habit from. “Don’t call Tarble that! He’s a sweet boy, and he looks up to you for making the shield.”

Bardock batted her off. “Bah! He likes calling to bother me you mean. I only played a small part in the shield, I hadn’t done anything scientific for a long time back then.”

Goku turned a questioning look on his brother, and Raditz explained. “Dad used to be in the technology division before he became a team leader. He liked fighting better than working with the snobby first classes and elites, but he went back to it after the shield came up.”

“Not like I had a choice.” Bardock grumbled. He’d rather be on the outside, fighting directly to defeat Frieza, but stuck as he was all he could do was try and improve their technology.

Gine patted her mate on the shoulder. “At least he’s home a lot more now.” She told her boys. “I haven’t been a fighter for a long time, I don’t have much of a flair for it, so I work in the meat district instead.” She explained to Goku. “…Or I used to, when there was still any meat to butcher.”

Goku frowned. “What do you mean mom?”

Bardock sent a look at his oldest son at Goku’s confusion. “You haven’t told him about the situation here Raditz?”

Raditz scratched his hair and avoided eye contact with their father. “It never came up…” He excused.

Bardock snorted. “More like you didn’t want to talk or think about it.” He turned his focus to a wide-eyed Goku then. “Listen up Kakarot. Right now on planet Vegeta, half of the population is close to starving. We were never farmers before the shield, and we didn’t magically get better at it after being trapped on the planet. Planet Vegeta is rather desert like in the first place, and the wildlife couldn’t support our population, so there’s a ban on hunting most things now. The elite hoards for themselves, but for the rest of us… we’re gonna have a real problem soon.” He finished angrily, hands clenched in frustration.

Gine frowned. “You didn’t have to say all that…” She admonished. “They can’t help us anyway.” She didn’t want her children to needlessly worry when their hands were tied.

Bardock glared from Gine to Goku, tilting his head in his youngest direction. “No, but he can try and think about who he chums around with. I don’t need him weakening the second and third classes position by making a mockery of us and disregarding what the elites and first class are doing to us by smooching up to prince Vegeta.”

Goku blushed, both at the accusation and the idea of smooching up. “I wouldn’t do that!” He argued, hurt that his father would think so. “I’d only try to ask Vegeta about it if he could get it to stop.”

“The First Prince holds no sway over the King, Tarble even less.” Bardock snorted. As far as he knew, Tarble had been removed from the line of succession thanks to his soft nature. “You’d be wasting your time and sullying yourself in the process.” He continued to tell Goku, voice hard.

“That’s **_enough_**!” Gine yelled, hitting her mate harshly in the shoulder. “You’re making it seem like he needs to pick a side or he’ll doom us all.”

“He does!”

“He _doesn’t_!”

Gine put her hands on her hips and raised her head. “Shut up and stop scaring him Bardock.” She turned her gaze back on Goku then, who was indeed looking on nervously. “Kaka… I’m not sure what’ll happen between you and Vegeta from now on, but try not to let what your father said bother you. Bardock’s stubborn about it, but I think you getting together with Vegeta could actually help us. It would show the snobs and classists here that there actually isn’t that much difference between us; be we third classes or elites.”

Goku opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before he found his voice. “I don’t know what I want yet…” He told his family apologetically. He could admit to feeling a pull towards Vegeta, one which he couldn’t really explain, but otherwise he wasn’t sure what to think of the alpha.

Raditz and Bardock stayed quiet, but Gine nodded. “And you don’t have to figure it out right now. The situation on Planet Vegeta is pretty far removed from you, and you can’t hope to do anything about it before Frieza is gone and the shield is somehow taken down.”

Both Raditz and Goku nodded at their mother’s words, Goku especially feeling relived that there wasn’t being placed such big expectations on him.

Bardock had been chewing angrily on his cheek as Gine talked; it wasn’t a new argument between them, but he had hoped she’d support his view on it in front of Kakarot. Political situation or not, prince Vegeta was still a fucking brat. Finally he drew his eyes back to Kakarot, noticing the boy’s serious expression. “…Well, at least don’t make it easy for the little prick. I don’t want you to become a notch on his bedpost.” Bardock told his son.

Goku relaxed a bit at his father’s words. “I won’t, don’t worry… Dad.” He finished awkwardly.

Gine smiled and sat back down. “Good. Remember to keep us updated on it Kaka. I don’t want to find out my son has mated from a rumor.” She turned her attention on Raditz then, smile growing teasing. “Speaking of that Radi, how did it go with that girl you liked?”

Bardock finally grinned, though it wasn’t a nice expression. “You mean that first class he was uselessly panting after?”

Raditz blushed and waved his arms in front of himself to dissuade his parents from continuing. “N-nothing’s happened! Shut up…”

Goku tilted his head. “You like someone Raditz?”

Raditz blushed and turned away, arms crossed huffily over his chest. “Shut up. She refused me before I could even ask properly, so it doesn’t matter.”

Bardock laughed roughly at his oldest’s discomfort. “Ha! I knew it. You always wuss out at the last minute. At this rate Kakarot is gonna produce a brat way before you can even manage to get it wet.”

Gine smacked her mate at his crude language, but had to hide her mirth. “Don’t worry about it Radi, you can take your time.”

“I know that!” Raditz half yelled, frustrated and now completely red from embarrassment.

Goku nodded. “It’s true. Courting isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Don’t worry about it.” He placated, patting his older brother on his arm, voice only lightly teasing.

Raditz batted him away. “I don’t want to hear that from the idiot who didn’t even realize he’d gone into heat and ended up refusing _both_ his suiters.” He grumbled.

“Oh lay off him boys.” Gine tittered, happy that the conversation had moved in a lighter direction, diffusing some of the heavy tension from earlier, but not wanting to tease her oldest too badly.

Bardock stood up. “We’re running out of time to talk anyway. It’s time to eat, and I have work. You boys get yourself to dinner. Send a note in advance if you want to talk to me, otherwise only your mother will probably be here.”

Gine winked at her sons. “Don’t worry, I’ll make him pick up.” She promised.

Bardock cast a final look at Goku, expression almost caring for a second before it smoothed back out. “I’m glad you made it back safely Kakarot.” He told his son, not mentioning how he’d always known the boy would return, or the important role Bardock had seen his youngest play in the future. If there was one thing Bardock had learned over all the years living with the curse of foresight, it was that the future _could_ be influenced and even changed. It didn’t make him all knowing though, and often his visions were more confusing than helpful. Anyway, there was no reason to make Kakarot aware yet, it might interfere with the natural progression of things, and besides, Bardock thought his beta child had looked a bit older when he saw **_that_** particularly vision of him.

Goku was surprised by his father’s sudden show of caring. “T-thank you. Me too, dad.” He stuttered.

Bardock nodded and then left, walking off screen without another word. Gine sighed and rolled her eyes, used to her mate’s nature. “Please call me whenever you have the time.” She told her sons. “And be careful out there!”

Goku and Raditz both promised, and then ended the call.

Goku slumped back with a deep breath and exhale. Meeting his parents had been both amazing and stressful. Especially their father seemed like he would take some getting used to. There was one thing which plagued him though…

“Hey Raditz, when do you think I’ll learn how to fly a spaceship?”

Raditz raised an eyebrow. “Not for a while I should think. No one’s gonna want you near sensitive equipment or information before you’ve been given the all clear.”

Goku bit his lip; he’d figured that was the case but still… “You don’t think there’s any way I could be allowed to go back to Earth for a visit?” He wondered.

Raditz shook his head. “Not a chance. Its way out of the way, and there’s nothing to gain from wasting time and fuel on it. All we risk is getting found by some the mercenaries hanging around in the boonies, and they’d sell us out to Frieza without a moment of hesitation.”

Goku clenched his fists. He knew, he _knew_ , but… He couldn’t tell any of the other saiyans why he really wanted to go. Goku might like his brother, and his friends and family, but he wasn’t blind to their nature. Saiyans were rough and self-serving above all else, so having vast magical powers at their fingertips…

No. The dragon balls had to stay a secret. Goku would just have to wait for a while longer before he could do anything to help the people stuck on Planet Vegeta.

Raditz had turned off the machines and had walked to the door while Goku was ruminating. “Yo, snap to it. It’s feeding time and I wanna get there before the good stuff’s all gone.”

Goku got up with an agile flip and jump combo and joined his brother. It caused him to almost lose his balance for a moment; strange. “Could you help me learn how to use the pathfinder on the scouter? It doesn’t make much sense to me since I can’t read the directions.” He asked as they walked.

“I can _try,_ but you really need to get a handle on your reading. You won’t be any use in the field if you can’t even read your written orders.” Raditz replied.

Goku sighed and rested his arms behind his head. “I guess I’ll try harder on that.”

“More importantly,” Raditz continued, a sly smile appearing on his face. “Think you can sneak me into the elite mess hall?” He asked. The food there was bound to be amazing.

Goku looked back, a roguish grin taking over his features, “ _Sure_.”

 

xXx

 

Vegeta had been putting off the call to his father. He had let his last battle against a fraction of Frieza’s army, this time on a planet, drag out as he reveled in the blood and carnage, and even after returning to the ship, taking a bath and writing up a mission rapport, he still hadn’t made the call. They were within range of Planet Vegeta now, and he was running out of excuses.

With a deep sigh Vegeta walked around his desk and activated the long range communication system, watching tensely as the screen flickered to life and the call started to go through.

Finally the king appeared, regally dressed as always and cutting an imposing figure, even if the screen still glitched every now and then. “ _Prince Vegeta_.” The king’s voice was slightly distorted by the call’s quality.

Vegeta bowed minutely, hand fisted and arm across his chest. “King Vegeta.” He greeted and then stood back up.

“I wondered when you would call.” The king told him, not beating around the bush when it came to addressing Vegeta’s avoidance.

“…I’ve been very busy. The spy-chip is still active, but it’s only a matter of time before—“

“That’s not the only thing you’ve been busy with I hear.” The king broke him off.

Vegeta closed his eyes. So his father knew. Of course he’d expected this, but still… “I’m sure the rumor mill has been busy as usual. I wouldn’t give it too much credit.” He tried.

“Oh? So the official reports I got stating your pursuit of a third class beta was wrong?” The king asked, voice taking on an edge.

Vegeta bit his tongue before he spoke too soon and raised his head to meet his father’s eyes. “I know you’re referring to Kakarot. Did these reports mention his power level and potential?” Vegeta asked. “Or did they handily leave that out?”

The king’s expression flickered marginally. “There was some mention of it. I made sure to have it looked into fully, of course. I’m not unaware of my court’s agenda.” He growled the last part admonishingly.   

Vegeta briefly lowered his head in silent apology. He couldn’t afford to incense his father right now. “You see then why my actions are not baseless. Right now I am certain Kakarot is the strongest beta living on the outside.” He licked his dry lips. “That means—“

“—Nothing. It doesn’t change his class, or his parentage.” King Vegeta growled.

Vegeta clenched his fists but didn’t talk back. He straightened up, squared his shoulders and stared back at his father with a calm façade. “Nevertheless. No first class or elite can hold a candle to him as it is, neither in strength or potential. It would be foolhardy to let him slip through our grasp, allowing him to mate with someone useless.”

“Your grasp, is what you mean.” The king said derisively. “I’m no fool Vegeta. I can tell from your actions and the stupid look on your face that you’re smitten with the boy. You’re letting it cloud your judgement.”

Vegeta threw his arm out, as if physically batting the accusation away. “My head isn’t clouded! My actions are calculated, I’m not—“

“So you will have no problem following orders, even if I tell you that Kakarot has to die?” The king interrupted, voice shrewd but expression hard.

Vegeta froze, the blood draining from his face. “Y-you…” _Wouldn’t._ Was what he’d like to say, but from his father’s expression, Vegeta could tell the king was being serious. “Why?!” He demanded instead, hating how his voice almost cracked. He was certain his father noticed.

The king folded his hands. “I shouldn’t need to tell you. I’m sure you realize what kind of power the boy can ascribe to the third class. With the situation on planet being as it is, an uprising would not be impossible. And even once Frieza has been defeated and the shield is gone, I don’t need Bardock’s ilk as some sort of shining figurehead, spreading discord.”

Vegeta clenched his hands so hard that his nails bit into the skin of his palms and he started bleeding, blood slowly starting to drip to the floor, unseen by the king. He had to unclench his jaw to even speak, and when it did, it became clear that he had completely lost his cool. “This unrest is _idiotic_. It’s the result of lazy morons who demand more than they need, growing fat and complacent as they sit around in their own filth, congratulating themselves on a purely perceived superiority.”

“Vegeta—”

“ _Meanwhile_ we fight out here every day, and I can’t allow their vapid insecurities to interfere with our war!” He roared.

“VEGETA!” The king roared back, expression furious.

Vegeta stopped himself, clicking his teeth together and clenching them hard to keep his tongue in cheek. He’d gone and done it, but he was too angry right now to care. He was fed up with the self-indulgent elites hiding behind the shield on Planet Vegeta; loudly and falsely lamenting their inability to help with the fight. “Father—“

“No! You have said quite enough.” The king held up a hand, massaging his tense brow with the other. “I’m guessing this opinion of yours hasn’t come on suddenly?” He asked after a few moments.

“…It hasn’t.” Vegeta allowed.

The king looked at him with a contemplating frown. “I see… I’ve always encouraged you to make your own judgement, but you are not king yet. How I rule my court is not up to you.” He told his son. The king sat forward, placing his fingertips together. “I am certain that the appearance of Kakarot and the fact that the boy happens to be a third class has only spurred these thoughts on though.”

Vegeta wanted to deny it, but he wasn’t sure if it would be the truth, and his father would be able to tell. The king’s keen eyes caught his oldest’s hesitation nonetheless. “You see why I worry, Vegeta? Already the boy holds too much sway over you.” The king closed his eyes briefly, before locking gazes with Vegeta.

“You must kill him.”

“NO!”

Vegeta breathed heavily, staring back at his father’s surprised expression with wide eyes. It took Vegeta a moment to realize that the violent refusal had indeed come from himself. Vegeta closed his eyes and bowed his head; his voice was strained when he spoke again. “No… I will never again kill another saiyan under someone else’s command. I made that vow to our name.” Vegeta shook his head. “You know why.  Not even you can ask me this.”

On screen, the king remained still and silent, all the reasons behind Vegeta’s vow resting heavily but unspoken between them. Finally the ruler of all saiyans sighed and dropped his head slightly. It was unsaid, but a concession nonetheless. “And what…” The king started to ask, his voice a tempered calm, “Will you do if I send someone else for the job?”

Vegeta’s breath hitched, but he looked back up, watching his father observe him. There was more to this question than simply whether Vegeta would interfere or not, and Vegeta recognized a choice, and a fork in the road, when he saw it. He stared back at the man he’d grown up respecting immensely, heart beating fast but mind already made up.

“Then I will stop them.” He answered.

The king looked back, taking in his oldest son and heir’s serious expression. There had been no hesitation in Vegeta’s answer. Finally the king closed his eyes, drew his head back…

And laughed.

Vegeta took a step back, thrown completely by the reaction as he watched his father laugh. It didn’t last long; the king was quick to bring himself back under control. Once again the king looked straight back at Vegeta, this time his expression was intrigued. “How many years has it been since you last defied me?” He asked, voice pensive.

“W-what?” Vegeta asked, “I don’t understand?”

The king tilted his head. “Don’t you?” He chuckled, but his face quickly grew serious again. “I won’t say I was merely testing you. Had you not spoken against it, the boy really would have been put to death.”

“Then why—“

King Vegeta held up a hand. “You would have moved past it. Had you truly chosen your own position over Kakarot, the boy would only have grown to become a dangerous wildcard, one you wouldn’t have been able to tame.” The king stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Honestly I expected you to discard him. You’ve never had a dalliance which you’ve bothered to report or even take remotely serious, and I didn’t see this one being any different.” The king fixed his eyes back on the still shocked but attentively listening Vegeta. “You chose him though.”

The king closed his eyes briefly and smiled slightly, then focused back on his son. “It means you can’t afford to screw up. If this beta is the one you’re set on, and he really is as strong and as _talented_ as he is said to be, then you must make him yours.”

Vegeta had to take a couple of steps back to rest a hand against his desk, his legs about to give out. “Y-you’re condoning it?” Vegeta asked, disbelieving.

King Vegeta smiled; a crooked thing that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m betting. Will you mating with Kakarot bring strong children to our bloodline and unite our people? Or will it be the final drop which unleashes the flood of tension…” He rested his head in the palm of his hand, leaning casually against the armrest of his throne. “In either case, you are currently a piece which will only move in one way. I’m simply allowing you to act on your heart’s desires. Ludz knows it’s the first time you’ve shown any.”

Vegeta stared dumbly for a moment before ducking his head, embarrassed that Ludz of all gods was the one his father had called upon. Unsure what to say, Vegeta simply bowed; arm across his chest and fist resting against his wildly beating heart.

“…I suppose this is all we have to discuss for now.” The king said, secretly surprised and somewhat amused by the levels of emotion his son had just shown. Vegeta hadn’t acted out like that since he was a brat, since before his time with Frieza… Something king Vegeta preferred not to think of, for multiple reasons, his dead mate included.

“Ah! There was one other thing.” The king pretended to suddenly remember, causing Vegeta to look up questioningly. “I had Kakarot transferred to Base One. He is under observation from Zorn, and the good commander may have the impression that he’s dealing with a spy or an assassin.”

Vegeta straightened up, tail fur bristling. “Why would you—“

“Because he could be.” The king said, brushing off his son’s indignation. “A saiyan that strong showing up after this many years? Looking at it objectively it’s too good to be true. Personally I doubt he is one, or he would have acted sooner, seeing as you’ve unwittingly given him plenty of chances, but protocol is being followed.” Finally the king allowed a devious smile to settle over his face. “Plus, this way you will know _exactly_ where he is. Zorn will not let Kakarot out of his sight.”

“I see.” Vegeta simply stated. He knew Commander Zorn to be very loyal to the royal family, his father and Vegeta in particular, but Vegeta didn’t doubt that Zorn would also have been the one charged with disposing of Kakarot had his father decided to go through with the murder, the commander too zealous to even question it. It didn’t sit right with him.

“I assume you’re going to Base One?” The king more stated than asked.

Vegeta confirmed, displeased by being so easily read. The stunt his father had just pulled in regards to Kakarot had already thrown Vegeta for a loop, and he didn’t appreciate the man seeing through him and pulling Vegeta’s strings so easily.

“Hnn. Give your brother and Zorn my regards.”

With that final statement the call cut off, and Vegeta was left alone to deal with his new place on the political board. Bah, who was he kidding. Nothing had effectively changed in regards to his pursuit of Kakarot, only the fact that he no longer had to be sneaky about it. Originally he’d hoped to mate and get a child on the beta before his father wizened up to it being more than a fling, better to ask for forgiveness than permission and all that. But now he suddenly _had_ permission… It certainly allowed Vegeta more room for manoeuvring.

Nothing would come of it if he didn’t act though, and with that thought he finally called the bridge, telling them to put them on course for Base One. They were already close to Planet Vegeta, so it would be a journey of mere minutes.

Vegeta sat down in his chair, trying to get himself back under control after the talk he’d just had. He had to stay focused. Very soon he would see Kakarot again.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He he, Earth is the space boonies.
> 
> Vegeta is still totally being cool and calculated about everything… Pppfth XD... Cheer up Vegeta! You’re still totes manly and not at all touchy feely or—*Has to break off to laugh hysterically*


	17. Hello, let's try this again.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know when I decided to make Zorn a paranoid bastard with a warped imagination, but I’m not regretting it.

 

Goku should have expected it, but when he was woken up at the ass crack of dawn by a smug looking Zorn the day after arriving on Base One, he really hadn’t mentally prepared for dealing with Vegeta again anytime soon. He was sitting on a bench in the mess hall, or rather, cafeteria, which was what the first classes and elites eating area reminded him more of, when he overheard the prince’s name being mentioned. Goku admitted that he might have grown overly sensitive to any mention of Vegeta, but the new surroundings and the apparently differently measured time already had him stressed. His internal clock insisted that it was still the middle of the night, yet here he was, trying to eat toast while a group of betas the next table over tittered about the prince arriving late last night.

Goku rested his head in his hands for a moment, groaning. Zorn hadn’t informed him what they would be doing for the day yet, but considering how disturbingly chipper the man seemed, it couldn’t be anything good. Add Vegeta to that mix and Goku seriously considered faking a stomach ache... Well, one worse than the one he actually had. He could say he had heat symptoms?

“Why aren’t you eating?” Zorn’s rough inquiry broke Goku out of his scheming. The man was watching Goku intensely, taking in his still full plate and slumped demeanour, an unusual thing to see from a saiyan near food.

Goku reluctantly brought up the toast and took another bite. He’d thrown up once and gotten the runs from all the fruit he’d eaten yesterday, his stomach probably not handling the high levels of fructose very well after his short week spent in bed on intravenous fluids, porridge and broth. He didn’t want to tell Zorn as much though, figuring it wouldn’t garner sympathy anyway, so he just shrugged.

Zorn watched the beta disconcertedly. He’d been informed of Kakarot just getting out of five days spent suffering the effects of a second stage heat alone, and despite Zorn’s plans to grind the boy through a gruelling training regime for the day, the sight of the miserable and pale beta caused his instincts to rebel against the idea.

Of course this did nothing but piss Zorn of though.

Clearly this spawn of Bardock’s was a far too skilled manipulator, easily seducing those around him with his seemingly innocent charms. But Zorn would not be fooled! Underneath that peach skinned and doe eyed exterior was a stone cold mercenary sent to compromise Prince Vegeta.

Suddenly a hush fell over the room, and after a moment both Zorn and Goku turned to look at what had caused it. Of course Goku already knew, he had felt the familiar ki moving closer and closer.

Vegeta cast a nonchalant glance around the cafeteria as he entered, before going to the counter and getting a tray. People whispered as they watched him, surprised by his presence; the prince usually kept to himself during meal times.

Vegeta brought his tray and walked a straight line across the room, plumping down on the opposite side of the table from Goku. Both the first occupants gaped at him, surprised.

“M-my prince! Why are you eating here among the commoners?” Zorn asked, vaguely scandalized, and very unhappy to have Vegeta and Kakarot sitting this close. Zorn cast a distrustful look at Kakarot, but the beta was merely watching the prince, brow only slightly furrowed in surprise.

“Where I choose to eat is my own prerogative, Zorn.” Vegeta answered snappishly without removing focus from his food. He continued casually eating, until he noticed how Goku wasn’t really touching his own food. Vegeta frowned, slowly lifting his gaze from the beta’s full plate to Goku’s face, noticing the paleness of his cheeks. The beta hadn’t reacted much to his arrival either. “Are you ill?” Vegeta inquired, perturbed.

Saiyans were generally a hardy bunch, so if something actually managed to infect them, it wasn’t a good idea to write it off. Of course he knew Kakarot had also suffered, needlessly, through the second stage of heat by himself… Vegeta had never heard of anyone doing that before, and as such didn’t know what the side-effects could be.

Goku hadn’t expected Vegeta’s company for a while yet, and had really hoped to feel better before he had to deal with the hot-headed alpha. Much to Goku’s surprise though, Vegeta currently seemed pretty calm, and he’d even asked about Goku’s health. It was quite the turnaround from the glaring, yelling and demanding Goku was used to from the prince.

“Just tired.” Goku excused, brushing it off.

“You’re not eating.” Vegeta admonished, voice tense. That was a very worrying sign for any saiyan.

Goku shrugged and aimlessly stirred his yogurt. “I don’t think I could keep it down.” He allowed, figuring Vegeta probably wouldn’t let it go as easily as Zorn had.

“Have you been like this since your heat ended? You shouldn’t be working like this.” Vegeta stood up, abandoning his tray and grabbing Goku’s wrist, the beta too slow to react in time to retract it. “I’m taking you to the med-bay.” Vegeta declared.

“Prince Vegeta!” Zorn tried to intervene, grabbing hold of Goku’s other arm and squeezing rather hard. “You don’t need to concern yourself with this, I can have someone else—“

“Clearly I do if you can’t even manage to get him medical attention when he needs it.” Vegeta snapped back.

Goku looked between the glaring alphas and tried to pull his arms free. “I don’t wanna go anyway. They said they wanted to dissect me!”

Vegeta turned his attention back on Goku, eyebrow raised. “Dissect you? Hmpf. They won’t dare suggest such a thing if you’re with me.” He glared at Zorn then. “Let go of him commander. I’m relieving Kakarot of duty for the day.”

Zorn let go, seeing as he was directly ordered to, but his expression was pained. “Prince Vegeta… Please reconsider.”

Vegeta merely snorted and started walking off, pulling a reluctant Goku after him by the wrist. People stared unabashedly in silence until the pair had let the room, but as soon as the doors closed, furious talking and even yelling broke out, everyone having something to say about prince Vegeta escorting a third class to the med-bay.

Zorn sank back into his seat, fists clenched. This was exactly what he’d wanted to avoid. Kakarot could not be allowed to run around with the prince unattended, who knew what the sly seductress would try next?! Prince Vegeta didn’t understand the threat Kakarot could pose to their entire infrastructure. Zorn brought up his wrist pad and logged on to the security cameras covering the public areas; he had made sure to force a special clearance for him to use them to go through. He got up and left the cafeteria as he flipped through the cameras, searching for the ones showing the prince and the spy.

Even if he couldn’t keep Kakarot next to him, Zorn would be watching, ready to catch him in the act and foil his plans, whatever they might be.

xXx

Vegeta didn’t bother with the public med-bay; instead he dragged Kakarot to the private one used by the royal family and the generals. He didn’t knock or announce his presence, he simply walked in.

“Coquille!” He yelled.

The Brench woman appeared from behind a shelving unit. Her skin was an orange red and her hair greyish white, like most people belonging to the Brench race. She ran a glance over Vegeta and his unwilling companion, her golden eyes sharp, before she popped her hip and crossed her arms. “Tch. Prince Vegeta. Back here so soon?”

Vegeta pulled Kakarot to stand beside him, ignoring the woman’s snide tone. “He’s not eating, and he looks pale. Check what’s wrong with him.”

“Can’t I just go sleep for a bit?” Goku whined, disliking the fuss.

Coquille looked between the saiyans, mildly intrigued. Not being a saiyan herself, she usually didn’t bother keeping up with the gossip, but even she had managed to overhear things about Vegeta being fascinated by someone or another, though she hadn’t bothered to inquire for details. She didn’t know if this was him, but she stepped closer and took a hold of the apparently unwell saiyan. “No slinking check-ups. If there’s a virus around that can affect saiyans then I wanna nip it in the bud. Sit down.” She ordered, pulling the younger man to the examination table.

“Name?” She inquired, going to her machines to bring up the youngster’s files.

“Kakarot, third class, son of Bardock.” Vegeta rattled of so there’d be no confusion. He leaned against the examination table too so he could observe, close to Kakarot but not enough to get in the way of the doctor.

Coquille quickly found the files. “A beta huh?” She skimmed it through. “Hmm…” She turned around, focusing back on her patient. “Imma take some samples off you.” She told him.

Goku winced when the needles predictably appeared, and he closed his eyes while growing even paler and almost swaying. A hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder to steady him. “Whoa, don’t faint on me kiddo. You didn’t say you felt that bad.” Coquille said as she propped him up.

“I-I don’t, it’s the uh—…It’s the needles.” He admitted, embarrassed.

“Well you can hold your boyfriend’s hand if it helps.” She offered, resisting the urge to send a teasing look Vegeta’s way.

Goku clammed up and shot a quick glance at Vegeta before bowing his head and shaking it. He felt his face heat up. “I’m good.” He replied in a strangled voice.

Coquille grinned. While Kakarot was being awkward and distracted, she’d already taken a sample. “All done.” She said, patting his arm and walking back to her computer. She started the analyzation of the blood sample, then picked up a scanner and walked back to her patient’s side. “Take off your shirt and armor and lift your arms, I’m going to scan your stomach and abdomen.”

Goku wriggled out of his clothes and put them beside himself. He looked back at the doctor expectantly.

Coquille turned on the hand held scanner, hiding another smirk as she spoke her next question. “Now before I start, is there any chance you’re pregnant? I know you’ve just come out of heat, so though it’d be hard to tell, it’s not impossible that—“

“No!” Goku exclaimed, shaking both his head and his hands in front of him. “I’m _definitely_ not.”

“I see.” Coquille started scanning the beta, but took the time to send a mocking glance Vegeta’s way. “Gotta work a bit harder, huh, Vegeta?”

Vegeta bristled, arms still crossed. “Mind your own business woman!”

Coquille laughed and turned her attention back to her examination. Once she was done she looked over the results the machines had spat out, finding them to align with her own. “All right then. So first, it’s not a virus, which is good for my work load, but you’re not exactly well.” She sat down, twirling on her chair to face Kakarot. “You haven’t had enough to eat for several days, and though other species could probably go through that with relatively little effort, you saiyans are sensitive when it comes to not getting enough food. It throws you off and basically gives you starvation symptoms, if it’s not treated quick enough. There are reasons for that but… Well, I won’t go into them.”

She let the pair digest that information for a moment as she stood up and went over to pick up a couple of pill bottles from her pharmacy. “Especially during heat it’s important that you get your nutrition, otherwise your body will burn both fat and muscles way too quickly, and seeing as you haven’t got much of the first, it takes a toll on your organs.” She went back, bottles in hand, and this time she glared at Vegeta. “I usually don’t involve myself in how adults spend their heats together, but as a medical professional I have to scold you, Vegeta. You should have made sure he was properly fed.”

Vegeta tensed up and glared back. “I wasn’t with him, so don’t look at _me_.”

Coquille frowned. She looked back at Kakarot. “Did you spend it with someone else or…” The beta shook his head. “You were alone?” She asked, surprised. She was sure she’d read the words ‘Second Stage Heat’ in the file… She looked at Vegeta for confirmation.

The prince was frowning and looking off to the side, glaring a hole in the wall. “Yes. He went through second stage on his own, didn’t you just read his file?!”

She’d skimmed it. “Well, I’m not surprised then. You’re not supposed to even go into second stage if you don’t have a partner. What a mess.” She jotted down a note in Kakarot’s files to keep track of hormone levels. “This here,” She shook the pill bottles, “Are supplements. Strong ones made for saiyans. It’s not super unusual for some of you to suffer from this after being on longer missions. The stress doesn’t help your systems either. Luckily it means I’m pretty used to treating it.” She said as she printed out a list. She pulled it free and turned around, flapping it in Goku’s face.

“This here’s a diet plan, with times where you need to eat an extra but small meal. No gorging down your food, it’ll just shock your system. Your body needs a bit more than a single day to figure out that you haven’t been abandoned by your mate, and that you’re not in a survival situation. Sleep, eat small meals, cuddle up with your whatever.” She advised, pointing a lazy finger at Vegeta. “I’m not sure what you twos’ relationship is, and I don’t care, but Kakarot should get in some body contact with someone right now. Aside from the starvation symptoms, your hormones are still out of wrack, so either take some time to give your body a chance to calm down, or you’ll risk going into another heat again.”

Goku tensed up at those news. “What! Why?!”

Coquille forced him to take the paper. “Your body’s just trying to make up for last time. It thinks you need to attract a better alpha.” She glanced at Vegeta, noticing the prince’s pissed off expression with amusement. “But if you take it easy for a bit you should be fine.”

Vegeta finally spoke up again. “So he shouldn’t be on duty?”

Coquille hummed. “No active duty at least. He can do paperwork or something if it’s necessary, but I’d say give him another five days, this time to relax. No fighting and sparring.” She lectured Goku sternly, finger wagging. “You can stretch and meditate, or swim a bit if you want, but you need to take it easy.”

“Okay…” Goku muttered, annoyed that he had to be grounded _again_. But at least it wouldn’t last two months this time. Worse was the fact that he couldn’t even train though; what on earth would he do with his time instead?

Vegeta made a mental note to get a hold of staff management and order them to give Kakarot the next week off. The beta being sick didn’t mix well with what Vegeta had planned for them originally, but he could readjust his tactics accordingly. Actually this might work better, seeing as Vegeta had an excuse to keep the beta near. He mentally thanked Coquille for helping him, however unwittingly, in his pursuit of Kakarot.

Coquille waved them away. “Right, off you go then. I’d advise you to go back to sleep for a couple of hours, then try eating again when you wake up. I assume you have someone to stay with?” She’d seen something about a brother in Kakarot’s files, which would be better than nothing.

“He’ll be with me.” Vegeta was quick to interject.

Goku opened his mouth to complain, but then closed it again. Raditz was working, and Goku didn’t really have anyone else. If Vegeta was for some reason willing to spend time with him, even though Goku wasn’t well enough to fight or spar, then he guessed he’d let the prince. Frankly Goku was still surprised by Vegeta’s lack of hostility. He’d expected the alpha to be at least a _little_ pissed about how Goku had handled their last fight and the… things… associated with it, but so far there hadn’t really been made any remarks on it. Goku had been mentally preparing for anger and arguments, so he had no idea how he should deal with this kind of attention instead.

Goku picked up his shirt and pulled the stretchy garment back on. He ignored the armor though, and simply stuffed it under his arm. While he was gathering himself, Vegeta snatched the paper with the diet plan from his hand and read it over. The prince pursed his lips, but soon looked back at Goku, discovering that he was ready to leave.

“Come on.” Vegeta told him and walked out the door.

Goku waved bye to Coquille and followed after him, intrigued. They didn’t have to walk for too long before Goku realized they were going back to the royal quarters. This time Goku saw the guards stationed several places along the way, all looking very alert, if not to say stressed. Goku wondered if Zorn had had a go at them.

The apartment Vegeta led him to was practically identical to Tarble’s, with seating areas and lush decorations, if not slightly more opulent. Vegeta passed it all by with nary a glance. The prince looked back at Goku, taking in the beta’s hesitance, and pointed at a long comfy looking sofa upholstered in rich red brocade and scattered with soft pillows. “Lie down.”

Goku walked closer and looked over the proffered sleeping space. Well… The doctor _had_ told him to rest, but he was a bit surprised that Vegeta was agreeing with it so easily. Thinking about getting comfortable, Goku pulled off the rest of his armor, his wrist guards and shoes. He placed his scouter on the coffee table, happy to be rid of it. Then he finally lay down, noting how it was indeed soft and comfy. He dragged over a pillow and pretty much immediately closed his eyes, easily letting himself settle into a doze. Despite his running around yesterday, he’d been more exhausted than he realized.

Vegeta watched silently, and with curiosity, as Kakarot settled in with no complaints and zero sign of worry. Vegeta hadn’t been counting on the beta relaxing so easily around him. Slowly he moved closer to where Kakarot lay, grabbing a tablet on the way before he sat down beside the resting Beta, Kakarot’s head laying right next to his thigh. The younger saiyan opened his eyes and looked questioningly up at Vegeta when he sat down, but Vegeta made sure not to stare or make a big deal out of it. “You’re supposed to have company.” He explained in a carefully blank tone. He held the tablet up so Kakarot could see it. “I’ll just sit here and work for a while.”

He made sure to keep his breathing even as Kakarot stared curiously at him, but finally the beta reclosed his eyes, turned onto his side and snuggled into his pillow, head brushing Vegeta’s thigh. Vegeta finally relaxed and settled properly into the couch himself.

It wasn’t long before Kakarot’s breathing evened out, signaling that the beta had fallen asleep. Vegeta turned away from the screen, which he had mostly been staring at blankly, to watch the younger man. Kakarot’s eyelashes were long and fanned prettily over his nicely shaped cheekbones. At least when it came to looks, Vegeta had nothing to complain about in his chosen beta.

The happy go lucky attitude and the impulsivity he could do without, but by now Vegeta had realized that Kakarot was actually a lot more shrewd than he appeared to be. The beta kept his cards close, and his easy personality made people drop their guard and open up. Had there actually been malicious intent behind Kakarot’s general demeanor, then the beta would have been a scary opponent indeed. But the teen was as he appeared for the most part; of that much at least Vegeta was certain.

Carefully Vegeta raised a hand and ran it through Kakarot’s inky dark hair; it was silkier than he’d expected. He’d never touched it without gloves on before. Vegeta’s next step would be to call for something for the beta to eat. Luckily the diet plan wasn’t particularly restrictive, it had just pointed out what would be quicker in getting the ailing saiyan back on his feet.

But Vegeta had a couple of hours to kill before then, so with one final mental congratulation to himself for reeling Kakarot in, Vegeta settled in to actually get some work done, one hand still rested in soft dark hair.

xXx

Tarble had never meant to interfere. He’d only let himself into his brother’s quarters unannounced because Vegeta had a tendency to scorn company and would have been unlikely to invite him in himself, so Tarble had taken it into his own hands.

He’d never expected the sight which greeted him inside.

Kakarot was asleep on the long couch, head almost resting on Vegeta’s lap, while Tarble’s older brother had seemingly been doing something with his tablet before nodding off, considering his half slumped posture and the tablet resting precariously on his one knee.

Tarble had to bring up his hands and cover his own mouth to prevent himself from cooing at the picture they made. He had been really worried that Vegeta had messed up his chances with Kakarot after the beta had rejected spending his heat with the older prince, even going as far as to ride out the second stage alone, but clearly all was not lost.

Vegeta had always been a light sleeper; years of vigilance and near constant battle only honing the tendency, so he’d noticed the new company even while dozing and now he slowly opened his eyes, taking in his younger brother in silence.

“What do you want?” Vegeta finally asked, voice low as to not wake the still sleeping Kakarot.

Tarble jumped a bit. “O-oh, not much? I just wanted to talk to you, maybe about…” He gestured awkwardly at Goku. “I talked with him yesterday.”

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. “You did?” Hmm, perhaps he wouldn’t throw his brother straight back out after all. Vegeta picked up his tablet before it could fall off his knee and placed it on a side table. He’d already made an order to have food brought up before he had nodded off “Well sit down then.” He told Tarble, gesturing to the lounge chair across from him and Kakarot.

Tarble sat down carefully, eyes on his sleeping friend. He noticed that Goku looked paler than yesterday, even resting as he was. “Is he okay?” Tarble asked concernedly, thinking over how it was actually a bit strange to find the beta out of work and sleeping in the middle of the day.

“Not quite. He’s got starvation symptoms and some hormonal disturbances after going through his heat alone.” Vegeta said, not managing to keep his voice from sounding slightly bitter.

Tarble frowned. “Is it bad?”

“No, he just needs to rest and… Body contact, I guess, until his system calms down.” Vegeta carefully detangled his hand from Kakarot’s hair as he spoke. He couldn’t remember the last time he had simply conversed calmly with his younger brother like this. Normally he didn’t bother with the other royal, and seeing as they never had any work together… It had been a while.

“Oh! Is he staying here with you then?” Tarble asked, unable to hide his excitement.

Vegeta made a face. “I doubt it.” He said. Kakarot may have consented to napping in Vegeta’s den, but he didn’t think he’d manage to lure the beta to his bed, even if it was only for sleep.

“That’s too bad…” Tarble lamented, thinking about how he could have more easily gone to visit both his brother and Kakarot. The beta’s presence seemed to have a calming effect on the older prince, at least while the teen needed to rest. Normally Tarble would have been thrown out by now.

“What did you talk with him about yesterday?” Vegeta asked, fishing for information.

“All sorts of things! But mostly you…” And then Tarble proceeded to sum up everything from the day before, even Zorn’s sudden and violent appearance.

Vegeta hummed, drinking up the knowledge shared with him. It was curious to learn what Kakarot had thought of their interactions so far, even if the re-telling was heavily colored and influenced by Tarble’s rather rosy view. The only problem was that Vegeta didn’t know how much to subtract, and suddenly moving too fast would be sure to have the opposite of the desired effect on the beta.

Zorn’s blatant hostility concerned Vegeta a bit though. Would the man think to act out against Kakarot by himself? Vegeta hoped not, Zorn was too high ranking for Vegeta to simply dispose of, even if the commander proved to be trouble. He would need a very good reason, and preventive measures unfortunately weren’t it. For now Vegeta would just have to watch him.

“More importantly brother, have you told Goku that you’re sorry yet?” Tarble asked, breaking Vegeta out of his thoughts.

Vegeta glared. “Sorry? For what.”

Tarble gaped. “For not courting him properly! And that time you almost killed him!”

When Vegeta just continued to stare, unimpressed and unmoved, Tarble groaned and ran a palm down his own face. “Do you even know what you’re doing right now?” Tarble mumbled rhetorically. Vegeta chose to answer it anyway.

“Of course I do! As soon as he’s better, I’ll spar with him again, and he’ll see I’m—“ Not lacking anything. Vegeta would establish himself as the strongest once again, and Kakarot would go back to chasing his power, but this time Vegeta would indulge him and draw him in. “—He’ll come to me.” He finished, crossing his arms and looking off to the side. While Kakarot was still ill Vegeta would of course be gentle with him… Somehow. But after that he’d court the younger man in the way of battle.

Tarble stared at his brother, finally realizing what level of idiocy he was dealing with when it came to interpersonal relationships. Ah, but of course Vegeta was also the big brother who had mostly ignored him since Tarble was removed from the line of succession ten years ago. He didn’t know why he’d expected anything else… Maybe because his brother was usually crafty and coldly analytical when it came to war and battles? At least as long as his pride wasn’t wounded; leaving his already high temper to flare and his judgement to plummet.

Perhaps that was actually the case here though? Goku’s refusal must have smarted. Tarble knew Vegeta had taken lovers in the past, but only when they’d offered themselves to him. He’d never had to work for it.

“ _Or_ you could try actually spending time with him.” Tarble suggested, expecting refusal, and getting it when Vegeta snorted dismissively. “No, but listen to me,” Tarble prevailed. “Goku wasn’t raised like a saiyan. He doesn’t put much hold in our customs; he didn’t even know what he was doing when he offered you food! You’re speaking two different languages, and that’s not even taking into account how he’s not even trying with you.”

Tarble had leaned forward during his diatribe, but pulled himself back and tried to calm down. If he wanted to convince Vegeta, logic was the way to go, not yelling at the older prince. “Knowing you you’ve already read whatever the data drones gathered on Earth’s culture, so you’ve got to have _some_ idea of what is considered courting there.”

Vegeta sent his younger brother a dull look. “It might surprise you to learn this,” He said sarcastically, “But mating customs aren’t actually the height of desired knowledge when it comes to invading planets. Of course that’s not something the drones would focus on!”

“I know they’re supposed to gather information on culture and customs too in case we ever wanted to treat with them, so there must be _something_ …” Tarble argued. The drones had been modified after they stopped working as planet busters for Frieza, and other things held priority now, even if Vegeta sometimes seemed to forget.

Vegeta gritted his teeth. Of course he’d scoured through the data like Tarble had guessed, paying attention to the part about culture and customs, but it was a fact that he’d only spent a few hours on Earth. Long enough to run into a Namekian of all things, when he’d thought to check the second highest power level first because it was closest, and to give the drones a small chance of gathering fresh provisions… But he hadn’t prioritized data at that point; he had simply wanted to grab Kakarot and leave, which was exactly what he had done.

“I know they usually progress from dating to engagement and then marriage, but what that involves is anyone’s guess.” Vegeta finally relented when his brother continued to stare.

Tarble chewed his cheek thoughtfully. “Well, marriage is probably the Earth version of mating? Which means one of the two former must be like courting… Though that means they have an extra step I guess...” Which could be bad. Maybe his older brother was missing doing something vital in his pursuit of the earth raised saiyan.                     

The brothers were interrupted in their wonderings by a loud yawn. Goku was waking up, stretching like a lazy cat after a nap, getting rid of the cricks. He blinked his eyes open, squinting against the light and sniffing the air. “I smell food…” He mumbled, slowly struggling to sit up.

Both Tarble and Vegeta sniffed the air. Indeed, the fragrance of fresh bread and meat could both be picked up, and moments later someone knocked on the door. Vegeta tilted his head towards the entrance. “Tarble, go let them in.” He ordered.

Tarble stopped himself from complaining, knowing he was already threading on thin ice by forcing his company on Vegeta and not wanting to outlive his welcome.

Goku looked around with bleary eyes at hearing his friend’s name. “Huh? Tarble’s here?” He asked. He tried to get up, only to get his foot caught in between the cushions and almost falling down. Vegeta caught him and pulled him back. “You _moron_. Be careful. You’re not at a hundred percent, so mind how you move.”

Despite his harsh words, Goku let Vegeta settle him back into the cushions with surprisingly careful hands. Goku looked up at the older saiyan, recalling how he’d gone along with and fallen asleep next to him. As he’d rested Goku thought he had felt someone stroke and rub his hair. Had it been a dream?

Vegeta stood back after getting Goku settled, hands on his hips. “Now stay there. I’ll bring you some food.” He looked towards the door where servers had entered with a rolling table covered in food and Tarble was busy directing them.

“Move it.” Vegeta ordered to those in his way as he walked over, causing a servant and his brother to both jump to the side. Vegeta looked over the choices on the table. “This is all in accordance with my specifications?” He inquired, expecting a yes.

A nervous server spoke up. “C-certainly sire. Fresh ingredients only, no strong or upsetting spices. Everything should be very nourishing but easily digestible.”

Vegeta nodded imperceptibly and started gathering things on a plate. “Tarble, you bring over a bowl of soup.”

Tarble jumped to do as he was asked, and soon followed behind his brother as Vegeta moved back to Goku, sticking the full plate in the beta’s face. “Take this but eat slowly. Aside from the soup it’s all you’re getting.” Vegeta told the seated teen.

Goku took the plate but frowned up at Vegeta after looking it over. “But why? I usually eat way more than this.” He complained.

Vegeta snorted as he motioned for Tarble to place the soup on the sofa table. “This morning you couldn’t even stomach toast.” He sat down beside Goku, ready to prevent the other saiyan for stuffing himself if necessary. “Remember what the doctor said. You’ll get another small meal in a couple of hours or so.”

Goku sighed but started eating slowly like he was told nonetheless. He was feeling a lot better after his nap, finally having gotten in at least eight hours since yesterday it felt like, but his abdomen still felt strangely sore and he didn’t fancy the thought of throwing up again from over eating.

Vegeta glared towards the entrance and the buffet table, where the servers were still standing, staring unabashedly. “What are you lot still doing here? Scram!” He yelled, causing the frightened people to scramble for the door.

The two princes got their own plates too, and for a while the saiyans ate in silence.

Goku had finished the plate and was reaching for the soup when he finally noticed Tarble, having forgotten the other saiyan’s presence in the face of food. “Oh. Hey Tarble! What’re you doing here?”

Tarble smiled at his friend. “I came to say hi to my brother, but found you sleeping here instead.” He frowned then. “You didn’t mention that you felt bad yesterday.” He scolded.

Goku shrugged and took a slurp directly from the soup bowl. “It wasn’t so bad then.”

“Hnn. Vegeta said you had starvation symptoms?” Tarble asked, looking between his brother and Goku.

Goku put the bowl down, now empty. “I’m not sure what that means, but I don’t feel good, that’s true.”

“I can explain if you want?” Tarble offered, familiar with the ailment, to which Goku nodded. Vegeta was simply watching them in silence after having finished his food, though he was still sitting close to Goku.

“It’s a metabolic response to being deprived of food. The body goes into a state where it starts breaking down muscle mass to keep vital organs working, your bodily functions start shutting down and your stress hormones goes up. Loss of appetite is also common. It’s your body trying to allow you to hunt better, seeing as hunger is distracting. But if you then suddenly eat a lot, your system can’t handle it, and you start throwing up and the like, because your stomach can’t process the sudden influx.” Tarble explained. He paused to see if Goku was following along.

“It happens pretty quickly for saiyans.” Tarble added. “Our metabolism is a lot higher and faster than most other species, so it’s one of our few weaknesses.”

Goku half smiled. “Yea, I remember when I was a kid. If I didn’t eat I had no energy to fight at all.”

“Normally hormone production is lowered too, because a starving body really doesn’t care about reproducing, but I’m not sure how that worked out giving your situation…” Tarble mumbled, referring to Goku’s heat. He glanced at Vegeta to see if the older saiyan had any ideas, but the prince merely shrugged.

Tarble chewed his lip for a moment. “I’ve heard that the sudden influx of hormone production after your body starts running again so to speak, can mess with you. I’ve heard of people going into heat afterwards, some even start lactating!”

Goku tilted his head. “Lack-wha?”

Vegeta cut them both off. “That seemed to be what Coquille worried about. Kakarot needs to stay around company lest his body tries to attract a mate as soon as it’s able.” A bothersome but not unreasonable response to having felt abandoned during second stage heat, even if the moron was responsible for the choice himself. Well, it worked out for Vegeta now, so whatever. He turned to look at the beta. “That means you should stay with me until you’re better.” He said, trying to sound reasonable instead of demanding.

Goku frowned nonetheless. “I can just stay with Raditz.”

“He has work.” Vegeta argued.

“Can’t you just give him time off?”

“I can’t stop the entire base from running just because you’re ill.” Vegeta growled, annoyed that Goku wasn’t complying.

Goku pouted and looked across at his friend. “Can’t I just stay with Tarble then?”

Tarble opened his mouth to answer, but felt a sudden deathly chill go through him, causing him to pause. When he glanced nervously over at the direction from which he felt bloodlust, he indeed found Vegeta sending him a glare that spoke volumes of what would happen if Tarble agreed to Goku’s request. Tarble laughed, panicked. “Ahahaha… T-that sounds fun but I’m suuuper busy too!”

Goku slumped. “Oh.” He looked from Tarble and back to Vegeta, watching the older man cautiously. “…I’m sleeping in my own room.” Goku informed him after a few moments, seeing as he had no one else to stay with. After Turles he was more cautious to be alone with an alpha who had made moves on him the past.

Vegeta felt the corner of his mouth curl up at the concession. “If you insist. But you’ll join me during the day.”

There. Now Vegeta had managed to monopolize Kakarot’s time for the next week at least. The beta probably wouldn’t even need that long to get better, meaning Vegeta would have lots of chances during the later part to wow the beta with his physical prowess.

Goku was still frowning. “What’ll we even do though? It’s boring to just lie around while you work on your tablet.”

Tarble had gotten over the Vegeta Death GlareTM and was now quickly thinking about how he could make Goku happier about the prospect of spending time with his brother. “Well, he won’t be working all the time, so maybe he could teach you more about saiyan customs? There’s a lot you still don’t know about saiyans, right?” He suggested.

Goku pursed his lips, looking between the brothers. “I guess… I mean, I still can’t even write in saiyan, or read it well.”

Tarble jumped on the opportunity. “Vegeta can teach you!” He practically yelled.

Vegeta sent a short glare in Tarble’s direction, but had to admit that it wasn’t a bad idea. In theory at least. Only problem was that Vegeta wasn’t a very patient teacher most of the time, and he actually wanted Kakarot to like him, so… “I can get him the materials. You can come over and help him with it after lunch.” There, that was a nice compromise. Vegeta would still have the rest of the day to spend with Kakarot, but he couldn’t drop his work load completely, and after lunch he often had meetings. Tarble’s presence would mean that the beta couldn’t wander off and get in trouble while Vegeta was away.

Goku looked at his friend. “Is that okay Tarble? Weren’t you busy?”

“Uuuh, I’ll find the time!” Tarble promised. “But maybe, in return for that, you could tell us about life on Earth?”

Goku blinked. “You wanna know?” So far no one had seemed to care, and Goku hadn’t thought to bring it up himself.

“Of course we wanna know!” Tarble exclaimed, sending an encouraging look in Vegeta’s direction. Vegeta caught it and grunted to show his agreement. Whatever would keep the beta engaged he guessed.

Goku scratched his scar. “Uhm, okay then. I don’t really know where to start though.”

“Well from the start obviously.” Tarble said. “Where did you grow up?”

Goku settled back into the cushions, hands across his stomach, getting comfortable as he thought about what to tell. He had to leave the dragon balls out of it somehow, which would complicate things quite a bit, considering that he’d spent a big part of his youth fighting to get them, but at least some things were innocuous enough.

“The one who found and raised me was an old hermit named Son Gohan. He gave me his family name and named me Goku, and I grew up with him as my grandpa on Mount Paozu. It’s a reeeeally remote area with nothing but beasts and dinosaurs, so I didn’t even meet another person until I was twelve. I also hit my head n’ stuff, but you already know that.” He said, therefor leaving it out.

“Grandpa died when I was ten… A big monster which only appears on the full moon stepped on him…” Goku fell quiet for a moment, caught in the memory of finding his grandfather squeezed to death, bloody and broken. He didn’t notice the looks exchanged between Tarble and Vegeta, who had both realized what the monster, which only appeared during full moons, sounded like.

“…Then when I was twelve I met a girl called Bulma, and she took me along on a journey to find—uhh… These ancient relics which were said to be quite powerful.” Goku fumbled, having almost slipped up and said dragon balls.

“How powerful?” Vegeta predictably asked.

Abort, abort! “Uhhm, I’m not sure? When we finally found them they were used to summon a pair of underwear, so…”

Vegeta made a face and leaned back with a “Tsh.” While Goku blew out a breath. That was close!

“So you went on a journey with her?” Tarble asked, prompting Goku to continue.

“Yea! We met all sorts of people, including the Turtle Hermit master Roshi, who’d later become my master and teach me martial arts. But we weren’t the only ones looking for the relics, so I fought a lot of people. It was quite fun.” There were some things which were a bit unclear to Goku, like how he’d managed to defeat that little blueish guy called Pilaf or something. It seemed like a blur.

“Anyway, after that I went to train with master Roshi and met my friend Krillin. We trained for eight months, and then we entered the World Martial Arts Tournament. I ended up coming in second after a relative of master Roshi’s though. That guy was strong, he blew up the moon! Never really got why, but oh well.” Goku scratched his hair. “Then I was told to train myself for a while and go see the world. So for fun I decided to search for the dr—relics again. There were some bad people looking for them though and, uhm, well lots of things happened, but I ended up fighting an entire army.”

“Whoa. Were you okay?” Tarble asked.

Goku shrugged. “They sent a mercenary after me which was some trouble, but after I defeated him I killed all of them, except for the ones who ran away. They were bad people who hurt my friends and wanted to rule the world.” He explained.

This caused some pause with both Tarble and Vegeta, but especially the last, who’d figured Goku for having lived a peaceful life up until then. Apparently not though. Vegeta grinned. “I’d been wondering about you, with that personality of yours I’d almost taken you for a pacifist.” He remarked.

Goku made a complicated expression. “Well, back then I solved most of my problems by hitting them really hard… But these days I’d prefer not to kill anyone unless it’s really necessary. My friends all taught me that just killing someone is bad, because they might turn over a new leaf and get better, you know?” 

“Bah!” Vegeta called, brushing Goku’s idealism off with a gesture. “That’s a bunch of soft-hearted nonsense if I ever heard any. It’s just like asking for them to come back and kill you.”

Goku shrugged and looked down. “Sometimes maybe. But as long as you stay stronger than them, I don’t think it’s a problem.”

Vegeta pointed at him, expression stern. “While you’re here, under my command, there’ll be none of that wishy washy hesitation.” He gripped Goku’s shoulder, forcing the younger man to pay attention. “Make no mistake about the war we are fighting. Any misstep, any hesitation will be used against you, and you’ll get no thanks from anyone. All you’ll get is yourself and the rest of us killed.”

Goku removed Vegeta’s hand uncomfortably. “I know that.” He muttered reluctantly. “But I’m not even fighting right now, so it doesn’t matter.”

“It always matters.” Vegeta insisted. “We can’t afford not to be vigilant. Frieza is always searching for us, for our bases and allies. An attack could come at any moment!”

Sensing that his brother was riling himself up into one of his paranoid rants, Tarble clapped his hands, calling the attention to himself before changing the subject. “While that’s all true, I’m sure Goku still isn’t feeling too well, so there’s no reason to stress about it right now. Why don’t I make us all a cup of tea before I go back to work? Goku probably needs to tell his brother what is going on with him too.” He suggested, happy to have foiled his brother in upsetting Goku more. He stood up and walked over to the side, to the small kitchenette incorporated in the room.  

“Oh yea… I guess I should tell Raditz.” Goku said, then winced as he thought about his brother’s reaction to Goku staying with Vegeta for any extended time. “Uuh, maybe I’ll just write him…”

“Black, no sugar.” Vegeta demanded for his tea, arms crossed and still stewing.

“What about you, Goku?” Tarble asked as he started going through the cabinets.

“I’d like both milk and sugar.” Goku requested.

“Not too much.” Vegeta told Tarble. “It’s bad for his stomach.”

Tarble went on to make the tea, listening to Goku argue with Vegeta behind him, complaining that the alpha was dictating his drink preferences and Vegeta growling arguments in return. To be honest, the gruff caring Vegeta was showing towards Goku amused Tarble to no end. He wasn’t even sure if Vegeta was aware that he was doing it, or if he was just acting on instinct or some emotion he was in denial about. Tarble wouldn’t rule out either.

But despite that Vegeta still had an acidic nature, and Tarble was relieved that Goku seemed so easygoing about it, otherwise the relationship would have been doomed from the start. As it was Goku showed no fear towards the older prince, nor did he take any order or demand lying down. Vegeta might not _think_ he appreciated the resistance, but Tarble figured that the challenge actually excited Vegeta more than he’d ever admit.

“Here you both go.” Tarble said, putting the tea down in front of them. “I’m afraid I have to leave after this… We’re observing the germination of some plants in the laboratory right now, and I have to take my rotation.”

“You’re a scientist Tarble?” Goku asked, taking a slurp from his cup.

“Keh! It’s not like he could ever be a warrior with that attitude.” Vegeta scoffed.

Goku slapped Vegeta offhandedly on the arm in a reprimanding way, while still drinking his tea. Goku didn’t even seem to have thought about doing it, but Vegeta sent the beta a startled look, thrown by the daring. Tarble had to hold back laughter, recognizing the gesture as something Gine too did to her mate whenever Bardock was being rude when Tarble called. He wondered if it was hereditary.

“He, yes. I’m a scientist, though I’m more interested in technology than biology usually.” Hence why he’d sometimes try to talk to Bardock, even though the older man dodged him every chance he got.

“I think you’d really like my friend Bulma.” Goku observed casually. “She’s probably the smartest person on Earth. She can build anything!”

“Oh. Really?” Tarble asked, intrigued. “Like what?” He didn’t know much about Earth’s technology. Add that to the list of things he was curious about.

“Well, there are all sorts of things, like capsules, which are—“

“Weren’t you leaving, Tarble?” Vegeta interrupted, feeling ignored. He glared at his little brother, expression making it clear that it wasn’t a suggestion.

Tarble startled. “Oh, right. Sure. I’m sorry to have disturbed you both. Uhm. See you!” He waved as he hurried out. “I’ll see you tomorrow for reading lessons Goku!”

Goku blinked, a bit annoyed to have been cut off, but letting it go seeing as Tarble did have a place to be, and Vegeta had been reminding him of that. “See you.” He called to the already closing doors.

Silence fell in the room, as the easy buffer Tarble had made between the two other saiyans disappeared. Goku turned around slowly, watching Vegeta with some trepidation.

Vegeta looked back.

Now what?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goku was pretty damn ferocious as a kid in the original dragon ball. Like, attack first ask later. He’d even eat his defeated enemies saiyan style too if they looked tasty. He almost accidentally killed Bulma when they first met! But then she shot him, so hey, payback.
> 
> I was really tempted to have Vegeta scream Constant Vigilance! XD
> 
> What do you guys think of their interactions so far?


	18. Strategy games.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fun thing about Goku and Vegeta, is that they’re both hilariously horrible at socializing in their own ways.

The two saiyans stared at each other, tea rapidly cooling on the table in front of them.

“Sooo, I should probably think about getting back…” Goku tried, while slowly getting up.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not even dinner time yet.” Vegeta said, grabbing his arm to prevent him from standing. Goku sat back down, foiled. It took a moment too long before Vegeta remembered himself and let go, pulling back and crossing his arms. Vegeta had decided to take his brother’s advice, and to play ‘nice’, since it seemed to be working, but that didn’t mean it came easily to him.  

They sat in awkward silence for a while longer.

Finally Goku sighed. “What do you do for fun?”

“What?” Vegeta was a bit thrown by the sudden personal question.

Goku gestured around the room. It was lavishly decorated, with rich fabric covering the furniture, exotic plants and decorative side tables, but aside from a big screen meant for communication, there wasn’t much to do as far as he could tell. “What do you do when you’re not working?” He elaborated. He didn’t want to have to stare into the air for the next week.

“I’m always working.” Vegeta responded. It wasn’t like he had the time or even the inclination for anything else.

Goku stared at him.

Vegeta bristled, feeling accused somehow. “What?! What do _you_ do in your free time that’s so interesting?”

Goku opened his mouth, hesitated, closed it again. “…I train.” He muttered finally, a bit reluctant.

Vegeta snorted. It looked like they were at least equals when it came to interests. Vegeta considered training to be part of his work, but at least a part he occasionally enjoyed. The beta looked pretty put out though, and Vegeta figured it would only be a question of time before the younger man decided to ignore his ailments and went off to do something unquestioningly stupid and probably disruptive, if Vegeta didn’t occupy him somehow.

That in mind Vegeta stood up and walked over to a cabinet, which was mostly obscured by a large potted, fern-like tree. If he remembered correctly… Ah, yes. He pulled out a box, blowing off the light layer of dust covering the top, before walking back to Kakarot and placing it in front of him.

“What is it?” Goku asked curiously, head tilted.

“It’s a game.” Vegeta revealed, removing the lid of the box. From inside it he pulled a board and many pieces made from differently colored stones with symbols on them. “It’s good for strategic thinking, planning ahead and subterfuge. I liked playing it when I was younger.”

Goku hummed, intrigued, and picked up one of the pretty colored stones. It was the largest one, cut like a smooth flat oval and a pretty deep blue. Goku thought he recognized the sign on it, though the one he thought of looked simpler in his memory. “W-water?” He guessed.

Vegeta took the piece from his hand. “Close. It’s ‘Body of Water’, or Daam, in saiyan. It’s the name of the game.” He placed the blue piece on the board.

“In the game there is the defending side, and the attacking side. Both are interesting to play, seeing as it forces you to think in different ways.” He tapped the blue stone. “That’s the most important piece for the defending side. It’s your water supply, and without it you lose within three moves.” He started picking up the differently colored stones and placing them across the board. “The attacking side has two pieces like it; provisions and resources. You limit the attacker’s moves depending on which you take, but you have to take out both, or kill the General before you can win.”

“How do you win as attacker then?” Goku asked.

“There are many ways to ‘win’ on both sides. Kill all the soldiers, take all the resources, force your opponent into a deadlock, kidnap the diplomat… It’s about getting your opponent to admit defeat, but if you get the ‘Daam’ then you win the game unquestioningly unless your opponent can take it back within three moves, or convince you to give it back.” Vegeta explained, finishing setting the board. He sat down across from Goku, pulling the chair he chose closer so they could both easily reach the table and see the game layout.

“Which side did you put me on?” Goku wondered, figuring that they were going to play.

“Attack. It gives you a more diverse set of moves to start out with, and less to worry about protecting. You have more soldiers too.” Vegeta told him, pointing out the different pieces’ positions and naming them.

Goku made a face. There were _a lot_ of pieces. “Uh, I’m not sure I can’t keep track of this. I still can’t read all the symbols, and some of them have the same colors. I also don’t know how you move them.”

Vegeta hesitated, but then reached over a picked off several pieces from Goku’s side before removing some of his own too, until they were down to less than half. “We can play a simplified version then. It’s usually how you start out children, but… Well, you’ve never tried it before. Now try to remember what I tell you.” He said, before going back over the different pieces and how they moved. “You got it?”

Goku stretched his arms above his head, fingers together so his joints cracked. He shook himself before looking back at Vegeta, alert. “Yea, let’s try it!”

Goku had the first move as attacker, but Vegeta was an experienced player, and even though Goku was allowed to move more than him, he was blocked pretty much constantly. Goku also wasn’t used to keeping track of the board, and within a couple of minutes Vegeta had taken both his Resources and Provisions, leaving Goku with no choice but to retreat on his Ship, hence admitting defeat, or send out his diplomat. Goku reached for the diplomat, unwilling to admit defeat yet, but Vegeta stopped his hand before he could reach it.

“Before you do that, you have to consider what would happen.”

Goku blinked at him. “I remember how he moves if that’s what you—“

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Vegeta said, letting Goku draw his hand back. Vegeta tabbed the two resource pieces he’d taken from Goku. “This is originally a thought experiment game. You treat the scenarios as you hypothetically would in a real battle. Now, I’ve already taken your recourses and provisions, so you can’t use your trade pieces, and you have no political prisoners that you could give back to me.” Vegeta pointed to his own side of the board. “Meanwhile I have your main platoon fenced in, putting you in a lock there. Even if you left and as such admitted defeat, you’d be leaving your men to die.”

Goku opened his mouth to object, but Vegeta held up a hand to stop him. “That can be a move you have to make occasionally, but right now you gain nothing from it. You can send in your diplomat, but you have nothing to bargain with, so you’re relying on my goodwill, or I may just take him—“ Vegeta picked up Goku’s diplomat, “—And put him with the other prisoners, meaning you lose another man.”

Goku frowned at the board. “So you’re saying, that even if I still have my General and a lot of my soldiers, I’ve lost?”

Vegeta shrugged. “Not necessarily, but if you can’t see a way out of this, then yes. I’m supposed to make you admit defeat, remember?”

Goku groaned and looked over the board dejectedly, not seeing any clear strategy. In the first place it was hard to think of the pieces as actual soldiers or things. “I still have weapons and a lot of soldiers, so what if I just ran amok? You’d take a lot of damage then.”

Vegeta tilted his head minutely. “That’s true, but you have no recourses, so you can only use your weapons a limited number of times, and you have no provisions, so your soldiers can’t move as far as you need them to.”

“What about my general? He’s stronger.”

“He’s also your most vulnerable piece. Without him you lose because your soldiers won’t move anymore.”

Goku put his elbows on the table and hid his face in his hands. “Urrgh. I don’t want to sacrifice my men…” He lamented.

Vegeta waited until Goku took his hands down and looked back at him, before he gave Goku his Diplomat back. “Sometimes the game is also about how best to lose.” He took Goku’s soldiers and put them on their ship. “In a real war, would you bet everything on a gamble and run amok, despite the fact that you haven’t damaged my infrastructure at all so far, or would you leave with what you have left, hoping to return at another time to fight again.”

Goku looked at the soldiers gathered around the ship piece. “It’s just this game though. I can’t come back later.”

“That’s why it’s a thought experiment.” Vegeta told him. “If you’re thinking about this as a real war, and you’re playing someone else, you might win more respect with your opponent if you concede strategically.”

Goku sighed and rested his chin in one palm. “I don’t see any other options right now… So I guess I lose.”

Vegeta smiled. “Do you want me to show you what you _could_ have done?” He asked.

“I could have done something? Awww, why didn’t you say?!” Goku complained.

Vegeta grinned. “It’s about _making you give up_ , remember? The only way I could have gotten a definite win was if I got your general too, it’s the only way to end the game via pieces from my side, but he’s well protected.” He pointed to Goku’s general, which was indeed in a safe position. “That’s another part of the game; you have to trick your opponent into conceding to you.”

Goku leaned back, arms crossed. “That’s sneaky. It’s like a mind game!”

“That’s exactly what it is.” Vegeta told him with a smile, moving around to the other side and sitting down beside Goku so he could better point out what the beta could have done. It took a bit of cajoling, but in the end Vegeta managed to show him how the younger man could have, if not won, then definitely taken a good chunk out of Vegeta’s forces.

“See? Assuming that you had more reinforcement behind you, coming to join you after the first battle, then they’d definitely have an easier time defeating my side if you did this.”

“You didn’t mention anything like that when you made me give up though!” Goku argued.

Vegeta smiled and shrugged, starting to put the pieces back in their places. “That’s why it’s a thought experiment. You explain your reasoning behind your actions; what sort of scenario you’re imagining, and then play based on that. The more imaginative a pair of players is, the more fun it can be to watch.”

Goku hummed, but he wasn’t watching the board. His eyes were on Vegeta. Being with the alpha like this… It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t the same as sparring, but the game was still a simulated battle, and one Vegeta clearly dominated. Goku couldn’t say why that sent his blood pumping like it did, but he wasn’t as upset about losing as he would normally be.

“Do you want to play again?” Vegeta asked.

“If you help me see what other actions I could take before doing something, then yes.” Goku agreed, wanting to learn the game better on a base level first. Before they could go back to playing though, Goku’s stomach gave a long whining noise.

Goku covered his stomach with his hands; surprised. “Ah, I didn’t even feel I was hungry.” He mumbled.

Vegeta wasn’t particularly happy at hearing that the beta didn’t feel hunger, but he grabbed his tablet and made a direct call to the kitchens before worrying about it. “Bring food immediately.” He told them. “Same specifications as before.”

Goku was about to thank the prince, when suddenly his own scouter, which lay forgotten on the table where he’d placed it before falling asleep, started beeping insistently. Goku picked it up, holding it more like a phone as he pressed the button to receive the call. “Hello?”

 _“Where the hell are you?!”_ Raditz’ thinny voice yelled at him.

Goku winced and briefly met Vegeta’s eyes, noticing how the prince was watching with a lifted eyebrow, clearly able to hear Raditz too. “Uh, you’ll get mad.”

 _“I’M ALREADY MAD!”_ Raditz yelled. _“Why do I have to hear through the gossip vine that you’re not eating and looking like you might fall over? And that Vegeta of all people was the one to drag you off?!”_

Goku rubbed his neck with his free hand. “I’m sorry about that Raditz. I fell asleep right after seeing the doctor—I uh, I have starvation symptoms? And some hormonal imbalances apparently. I’m not supposed to be alone, but you were working, so uhm, I’m—I’m with Vegeta right now.” He finished with a wince.

From the other end of the line, Goku could practically feel his brother taking in a deep breath and gearing up to scream at him. Before Raditz got the chance though, Vegeta snatched the scouter out of Goku’s hand.

“Hello Raditz.” The prince purred, dangerously calm. “Did you have any complaints you wanted to take up with me?”

Raditz got very quiet, but seemed to find his voice again despite Vegeta’s more than hinted aggression. _“What are you doing with my little brother?”_ He demanded.

Vegeta snorted; surprised that Raditz had actually stayed on the line. It would seem the hairball had actually grown to care for his younger sibling, despite it starting out like nothing but him following orders from Vegeta. “I’m feeding him and playing Daam.” He informed Raditz dryly.

Goku made motions to have the scouter back, but Vegeta ignored him.

 _“…If he’s not back by nightfall, I’m coming up there and getting him myself.”_ Raditz promised, sounding like he’d actually try.

“Oh like you could actually—“

“I’ll come back tonight Raditz! Don’t worry!” Goku yelled over whatever Vegeta would have said. He was loud enough that his promise reached Raditz on the other side of the line.

 _“Hmpf. You’d better. I’m gonna be waiting for you in your room, so I’ll know.”_ Raditz told him.

“Okay cool! We’ll have a sleepover!” Goku yelled back, despite Vegeta having given up and was trying to hand the scouter back.

Wanting to spare himself for any further yelling, Vegeta ended the call and threw the scouter to the side, where it landed somewhere in one of the chaise lounges. He got no chance to tell Goku off for his yelling though, as at the same time someone knocked on the door.

“Oooh, food.” Goku exclaimed, getting up and practically skipping over to the door, only to lean against it dizzily as soon as he got there. Vegeta rolled his eyes and got up before the beta could hurt himself.

“Go sit down idiot. You’re not supposed to jump around.” He told Goku, grabbing the younger saiyan by the neck, even as he used his other hand to swing the door open.

Goku moaned miserably, surprised that his world had started spinning soon after he stood up. “Dizzy…” He mumbled groggily as Vegeta dragged him back to the couch by the scruff.

“Low blood pressure, probably sugar too.” The prince told him offhandedly, before throwing him on the couch. “Don’t get up suddenly after sitting down for so long.” He gave Goku a stern glare that said ‘Stay’, before walking back to the door where the servers were standing and staring again, probably drinking up material for the rumor mill. “Just leave the damn food here and get out.” Vegeta growled, not in the mood.

Everyone jumped to obey; no gossip was worth your livelihood, and soon the door closed behind them again.

Vegeta gathered food for himself and Goku both, before carrying it back over. “Remember; eat slowly.” He told the beta, who was making grabby hands for the plate.

They ate in silence, Vegeta only occasionally stopping the younger saiyan from stuffing himself. He yanked a thighbone out of Goku’s hand at one point, and only gave it back once Goku capitulated and agreed to eat slower.

Otherwise their meal was peaceful, as much as it ever got around eating saiyans anyway, and after a short bathroom break they went back to playing Daam until Goku started yawning and loosing focus. Vegeta had been pondering over his next move for a while, finding the beta to be a tougher opponent after he had familiarized himself a bit more with the game. It was nothing Vegeta couldn’t beat, but he still wanted to go about it the best way possible, both teaching and showing off if he could. He looked up after making his move, only to find the younger man slumped over the table and asleep.

Vegeta looked at him for a moment, taken in his sleep gentled features. He contemplated briefly simply carrying the beta to his bed and letting him sleep, but that probably wouldn’t go over well once Kakarot woke up. Sighing he sat the board aside before getting up. He walked over and gently shook Goku’s shoulder.

“Kakarot, wake up.”

“Nnh…”

“Either wake up, or you’re sleeping here.” Vegeta informed him.

Goku blinked back awake. “Nh,  Raditz…” He mumbled. His brother had said he’d be waiting.

“The hairball, yes.” Vegeta grumbled, angry about being left for something like that, but knowing he’d be better counting the luck he’d had so far instead of pressing. “I’ll escort you, so get up.”

Goku got up slowly, rubbing his eyes. “Mh mh.” He shook his head. “I can go myself. People stare.” He mumbled, thinking about how he’d rather not stick out more around his new team.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re swaying on your feet.”

Well, that _was_ true. “Only until my hall.” Goku compromised.

Vegeta seemed to take it, sneaking a hand around Goku’s waist and drawing him close. “Put your arm around my shoulder or you’ll fall.”

Goku did so, not feeling up to arguing. The fatigue had come one fast and suddenly. He didn’t even remember nodding off. At least he didn’t feel as nauseated anymore, probably because of Vegeta forcing him to eat slowly, so he’d probably sleep better tonight without needing to throw up or sit on the toilet for over an hour. It was a good thing, because frankly Goku was already fantasizing about his pillow.

Vegeta dragged the beta along, finding a sleepy Kakarot to be rather agreeable but heavy. It’d have been easier to just carry him, but Vegeta doubted that the younger man would consent to that when not heavily wounded or unconscious. It was a shame. He kind of liked doing it.

They had soon walked to the hall holding the rooms of Goku and his team, and Vegeta let go of the beta reluctantly. They still weren’t within sight of Goku’s door, and though it wasn’t far, Vegeta would have preferred leading him the whole way.

“Night ‘Geta…” Goku mumbled, patting the alpha absently on the shoulder before staggering off.

Vegeta watched him go silently. It was the second time he’d heard Kakarot call him ‘Geta’, and though the first time he’d been sure it was just because the boy had been tethering on the brink on unconsciousness and finding words hard, he was now starting to wonder if it was some sort of nickname the beta was hoping to adopt for him. If so Kakarot had another thing coming.

With a huff he turned back towards his own quarters. He had to send in the request for teaching materials before tomorrow… And maybe find some other ways for Kakarot to pass the time. Vegeta didn’t have the time to indulge him the whole day; he did have work.

 

xXx

 

Goku was almost at his own door, passing by the common area just before it, when he was suddenly grabbed and pulled roughly into the darkness, a strong hand covering his mouth before he could scream.

Wide-eyed Goku tried to get a glimpse of his attacker, but the common area was dark and his vision still hadn’t adjusted.

“Thought you could get away with it, huh?” A man sneered, so close that Goku could smell his breath. The voice was familiar.

_“Mmph?”_

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” Zorn hissed, something sharp poking against Goku’s vulnerable abdomen. “I should gut you right here. The prince would get over it. You wouldn’t be missed.”

Goku’s heart started hammering and unwillingly he felt his ki rise. Goku knew his body could take a lot of abuse, but even he wouldn’t survive his organs spilling all over the floor. He was also weakened right now, and Zorn was no pushover. Goku wasn’t sure if he could push him off before the older saiyan took his chance to strike, and at the realization cold fear tickled chillingly down his spine. He widened his eyes, staring pleadingly at where he could make out the faint gleam reflecting in Zorn’s.

The knife pressed closer. “Don’t try that trick with me. Those eyes of yours might have bewitched the prince, but you’re not fooling me!”

Zorn twisted the knife, causing it to pierce the otherwise strong cloth of Goku’s under armor and open a shallow wound on the soft flesh of his belly. Goku panicked and before he could think about it, he raised hi ki to a roaring blaze. Around him the room started shaking from the sheer power, a chair knocking over and things rattling out of the cupboards.

“Stop it!” Zorn screamed, drawing the knife back, preparing to stab it forward—

Then he was gone.

The furious roar of an enraged alpha sounded in the room, shaking the very foundation.

Goku slumped down the wall, winded from his uncontrolled power surge. Suddenly the lights turned on, people having been attracted by the commotion, and after blinking through the flare, Goku’s eyes finally settled on the ki-glowing form of Vegeta; holding Zorn by the throat, a completely deranged look twisting the prince’s expression.

“YOU DARE!?!” The Vegeta roared, spittle flying as the commander shook in his grasp. It would seem like Vegeta had been right to expect trouble from Zorn. Only Kakarot’s suddenly spiking ki had alerted him in time.

Goku stared, enthralled, when suddenly there were arms around him, drawing him close against a familiar chest. “Are you hurt?” Raditz demanded, more focused on his brother than the spectacle of a furious and fully powered up Vegeta. “I was just about to kick him off you, but he beat me to it.” Raditz explained, nodding towards the prince, who had now smacked Zorn into the wall, imbedding the commander in the plaster covered metal.

Goku felt his stomach, it stung and his hand came back faintly bloodied, but it didn’t seem like more than a scratch. “I-I’m fine.” He struggled to get up, his ki already draining, sinking down to his normal suppressed state without Goku trying. The other fringe team members who’d gathered around, their scouters on and beeping, still stared at him like they’d seen an alien though. Goku thought it was a bit rude, considering that they were all the same kind of aliens.

“Are you sure you should be standing?” Raditz fretted, hands hoovering. Goku smacked them away. “Let me up.” He growled, taking a step forward. “Vegeta!” He called.

Vegeta didn’t seem to notice, he was still growling threats at Zorn, punching the man after each one to drive it home, though by now the commander was so blue in the face from air deprivation that it was unclear if he could hear them or not.

“Vegeta, let him go!” Goku implored.

This seemed to strike a chord. Almost startled Vegeta turned his head to watch the beta disbelievingly. “What?!”

Goku staggered over, resting his hands on Vegeta’s shoulders despite the burning ki still pouring off the other man. “I’m pretty sure it’s just a misunderstanding, so please, let him go.”

Vegeta did, but only so he could swivel around and grab Goku by both his arms, pressing him backwards until it was Goku who had his back to the opposite wall. “That cowardly ignorant bastard hurt you!” Vegeta growled, fangs showing. He could smell the blood and his beta still looked pale.

Goku settled his hands on Vegeta’s waist, and tilted his head just enough to seem submissive. The last was an unconscious and instinctive gesture, but it worked anyway. “ _Ignorant_ is right, all this time he’s been thinking I would hurt you, Vegeta.” Goku told him, voice a forced calm.

Vegeta snarled, unappeased, when a scratchy voice suddenly sounded from behind them. “It’s true sire, he is a danger to you.”

Zorn had struggled free of the wall and to his knees. He looked up at his liege, blood running down his face from his mangled nose. “You do not see it, but he has bewitched you! He uses foul powers and trickery. Why can’t you see it?!” Zorn insisted and lamented in the same breath.

Vegeta finally started to power down, though he didn’t let go of Goku and remained standing between him and Zorn, casting a derisive look back at the older man. “All I see is that you’ve completely lost your marbles,” Vegeta said, voice still an angry rumble. “And that I’ll have you executed for harming my future consort.” High status or not, this _should_ be enough for Vegeta to dispose of the older saiyan without too much fuss.

Goku thumped his head back against the wall. He thought it amazing how both Tarble and Vegeta apparently both found it completely fine to conscribe Goku into their family, without asking Goku’s opinion on the matter, and by ‘amazing’ he meant ‘annoying as heck’.

Meanwhile Zorn had started shaking. “M-my prince. I only acted to protect you! After losing you to Frieza, I-I made a promise to never fail you again.”

Vegeta finally turned around, eyes wild. “Do not mention that worm!” He yelled. He breathed heavily, but still stretched a hand back, making sure to keep Goku against the wall and behind him. Goku only allowed it as to not escalate the situation. “Regardless of your reasoning,” Vegeta told Zorn, “The fact is that despite your plead of allegiance to my royal family, you would still attack a future member of it.”

Finally Zorn’s eyes widened, and he seemed to start getting the implications of what he had done. The commander cast a wide-eyed stare at where the prince’s hand covered the third classes’ belly protectively, and at Goku, who looked back passively. Zorn lowered his gaze and bowed his head. “I—my deepest apologies. I did not _realize_ …” If he’d known that Kakarot was truly prince Vegeta’s chosen, then he’d never have acted like he did. But the prince had never acted like this around a beta, and Kakarot was a _third class._ And if the beta was already… Did the king know?

As if reading his thoughts Vegeta spoke up again. “My father has already agreed with my choice. Only formality remains.”

Goku frowned at that. He figured that his agreement to mating counted as a bit more than ‘formality’. He may have rushed into a marriage back on Earth, unaware of what he’d been getting into, frankly figuring that he’d just promised to help ChiChi out somehow, but he’d learned from that, and he wasn’t about to just do it again because another insistent person pursued him.

Zorn bowed down, forehead scraping against the ground. “Please, please forgive me your highness. I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you and your mate. I am forever your devoted subject. Please allow me to right the error of my ways.” He begged. Zorn was a proud man, just like most saiyans, but he was completely zealous when it came to the royal family. He did not fear death, but the dishonor of his own misguided actions he could not bear.

Vegeta’s fangs glinted as he showed them in a disturbing parody of a smile. He opened his mouth to speak Zorn’s sentence, but was interrupted by arms sneaking around him and Goku pressing himself against his back. “Please let him go Vegeta.” Goku asked, voice tickling his ear.

Goku had practically draped himself over Vegeta, hoping that his begging would somehow put a damper of the alpha’s blood lust. “I’ll think up a punishment myself. Don’t take this from me.” He cajoled. It was frankly hard for Goku to tell where the impulse to behave like this came from, and he was a bit embarrassed to act on it, but his hunch seemed to have been right; Vegeta’s muscles were slowly relaxing under his.

“Hn… What will you do to him?” Vegeta wanted to know.

Goku sighed and allowed his head to drop down to rest on Vegeta’s shoulder, relieved that he’d prevented any bloodshed for now. “I haven’t decided yet.” He admitted.

Despite the concession, Vegeta still wasn’t calm, and he sneered down at Zorn as he spoke to him. “Be thankful that Kakarot is more forgiving than I am. It’s for his sake, and not yours, that you get to live for now.” At least until Vegeta could find a way to get rid of Zorn without attracting too much attention. Loyal or not, he found the commander was too unstable.

Zorn pressed himself impossibly flatter against the rubble strewn ground. “Yes, thank you sire. I am forever grateful.”                 

Vegeta snorted derisively and turned away from the miserable sight Zorn made. He circled around until he could once again grab hold of Goku, pulling the beta to himself and drawing in his scent. Goku allowed the peculiarity, sending a slightly lost glance Raditz’ way before bringing his own arms up around Vegeta, resting his hands on the prince’s back. “I’m fine.” He tried to reassure again, frankly just wanting for this mess to end so he could get out of the spotlight and sleep as soon as possible.

“I can smell your blood.” Vegeta growled into his neck, nose moving up and brushing the hairline behind Goku’s ear.

Goku held back a shiver. “It’s a scratch. I’ll make Raditz treat it.” It probably didn’t even need treating.

Vegeta rumbled and let his own hand glide along Goku’s side and stomach until he could settle his hand across the wound to see for himself. It didn’t feel bad, even if it did cause the beta to hiss. “Was the blade poisoned?” He demanded, speaking to the still kneeling man behind him. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d seen someone use that trick to dispose of a saiyan. What a flesh wound couldn’t manage, poison would.

“No sire. The blade was clean.” Zorn reassured. He hadn’t been sure about killing Kakarot. He’d mostly wanted to threaten the young saiyan into confessing his plans. Murder had been a backup solution only.

Vegeta felt himself let go of a tension he hadn’t been aware of. Kakarot was safe, for now. Vegeta pulled back, taking in the younger man with a stern gaze. “You’re not going anywhere on your own from now on.” He informed him.

Goku stared back, unimpressed. “I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself.”

“Clearly not.” Vegeta growled, gesturing to Goku’s stomach, Zorn and the destroyed common room.

“I’m sick right now. It’s not the same.” Goku argued. “You said that I shouldn’t be jumping around yourself!”

“And you shouldn’t.” Vegeta confirmed. “So until then, you’re under supervision. I need to figure out if there are more of _his_ types around.” He said, with a gesture at Zorn.

Goku rolled his eyes but let it go. He was too tired to argue about this right now. If Vegeta felt better with Goku not walking the distance between his own room and Vegeta’s alone, then fine. Perhaps it would stop the prince from breathing down his neck.

This in mind Goku pulled away from Vegeta. “Fine. I’m going to sleep now. _Don’t_ kill him.” He impressed on Vegeta a final time before walking over to Raditz and dragging him to his own room and away from the staring onlookers, which consisted of everyone living in the hall by now.

Goku slammed the door behind himself and his brother, and leaned back against it for a moment with a deep sigh.

Raditz stared blankly into the air for a moment. “Holy shit.” He stated, then slowly turned his focus to Goku. “Holy crap. I’ve never seen Vegeta act like that!”

Goku stared back dully, not in the mood to discuss Vegeta’s mood swings. “No, he does that.” Goku told his brother factually, then walked past him on the way to the bathroom. Raditz followed.

“Just when did you agree to mate with him anyway? I only took my eyes of you for like, a day.” Raditz asked in a mix of bewilderment and frustration.

Goku pulled his shirt off carefully, not wanting to stretch his wound, slight as it was. “I didn’t. People just tend to forget that whenever it suits them it seems.” He said, throwing the garment to the side with more force than necessary.

Raditz hesitated in the doorway, sensing that he’d hit a sore spot, and frankly a bit scared of his brother whenever he got pissed. An angry Kakarot reminded Raditz of their mother. “Are you going to say yes…?”

“I don’t know, okay?!” Goku exclaimed, throwing out his arms. “It’s not on the top of my priority list, and I’d frankly wish people would just give it a rest already.”

Goku started attacking his pants too, while Raditz hang awkwardly in the doorway. “I didn’t know it bothered you that much. It didn’t seem like you cared, or were even aware half the time.” Raditz told him.

Goku wrinkled his nose in frustration. He had to sit down on the closed toilet, having already lost his breath just from walking around, changing out of his clothes and yelling a bit. “Of course I knew. I just didn’t want to deal with it.” So he’d kind of been hoping to ignore it until it went away. Not the best plan when it came to Vegeta, as it turned out.

Raditz scratched his hair, uncomfortable, but feeling like he had to address this. “He’s not gonna stop with the way you’re behaving right now you know. You’re definitely acting like you’ve already agreed to courting. Or at least is letting yourself be courted by him.”

Goku glanced at his brother before starting on pulling off his socks. “…I guess I am. Not that he asked me directly. But it doesn’t mean I’ve decided on anything, and the pressure annoys me.” Vegeta’s mood swings, even the explainable ones, did too. But right now Goku could admit to being more bothered by them than usual. He didn’t know if it was the hormones, or just the fatigue and general exhaustion which caused him to feel more testy than normal when stressed. The time they’d spent playing Daam and eating together had been nice though… And Goku longed to spar with the prince again, if only his body would cooperate.   

Raditz pursed his lips, but couldn’t help but chuckle. “You know, you’re more crafty than people assume.”

Goku ran a hand through his hair before smiling tiredly at his big brother. “Just because I like taking things as they come, doesn’t mean I can’t worry or that I’m clueless.” He might not have much schooling in the traditional sense, but he was usually decent at things when he applied himself. “Now please let me take a bath in peace.” He added, needing to be alone.

“Fine, I’m outside if you need me. I might stick my head out to see if they’ve broken it up in the hallway, but just yell louder then.” Raditz told him, before closing the door and disappearing.

Goku pulled his underwear off and stepped under the hot water with a hiss that soon transformed into a sigh. Today had been exhausting, and tomorrow would only bring more of the same. As for where he stood with Vegeta… Goku didn’t know, and he kept changing his mind about it. He wished it wasn’t something he had to worry about, but even when Vegeta had left him alone for two months, Goku had still been haunted by thoughts of him, even if at the time Goku had only thought of him as an opponent he wanted to defeat; at least consciously.

One thing which disturbed him more than the rest though… Goku glanced down at his traitorously fattened member, which had definitely agreed with Vegeta’s little power display and show of concern afterwards, even if the rest of Goku hadn’t been so pleased.

“Jerk.” Goku told it and turned the water to cold out of spite.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Later Raditz found Goku shivering under his comforter, and briefly worried that he had a fever XD


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misunderstandings, lessons, and a bath.

Apparently being sick didn’t mean Goku got to sleep in. Raditz woke up early, and his bumbling around the room disturbed Goku too much for him to stay asleep. When his older brother was finally done, and Goku had started eyeing the chance to nod off again, someone started knocking at the door.

Goku groaned into his pillow.

Raditz frowned but walked over and opened up. “Yea?”

Outside were two elite guards, meticulously dressed and faces serious. “We are here to escort master Kakarot.”

Raditz glanced back at the mound of comforter and blankets that was his little brother, and was just able to make out one faintly glinting and glaring eye from within the mess. “…Sure, have fun with that.” He told them, before getting out of dodge. Leave it to someone else to deal with his moody little brother. ‘Sick Kakarot’ wasn’t quite as bad as ‘In Heat Kakarot’, but it was a contester nonetheless, just with more whining and grumbling instead of downright aggression.

Goku sat up in bed slowly, comforter still covering him from his head like an improvised tent. He watched the guards watching him. “Can’t it wait?” He asked tiredly.

One of the guards straightened up. “Prince Vegeta requested your presence as soon as possible, sir.”

The ‘sir’ irked Goku, but he let it go for now. It seemed like whatever he did he was either disregarded and insulted by the people here, or spoken to in a respectful but distant manner. He disliked both equally. “Fine.” He grumbled and got up, letting his comforter glide off of him. He stretched and yawned as he walked over towards the guards and the exit, causing the two saiyans to stare at him.

“Are… Are you not getting changed?” One of them asked, confused.

Goku was still in his sleeping clothes; he’d gotten a hold of them back on Checkpoint 8 and the cut and material reminded him a lot of his destroyed and lost orange gi, though this set was more red with a black sash instead and longer sleeves. Goku used it as pajamas because he was supposed to follow dress-code and wear his armor during the day; right now he didn’t care though. “Nah, Vegeta can just deal.” He was probably going straight to sleep on the couch once he got there anyway.

The guards exchanged a glance but stayed silent as Goku walked out and let them fall into step with him. The two serious looking guards and the sleep rumbled beta made good time towards the royal quarters, but were intercepted just before they could enter the first set of doors leading to the wing.

“Lord Kakarot…”

The guards were instantly alert and in front of Goku, hands out and ready to attack with ki blasts. “Commander Zorn. You are not allowed anywhere within distance of Kakarot. Step back please.” One requested, voice stern but still respectful towards their superior officer.

Goku absently placed a hand over the scratch the commander had given him yesterday as he watched Zorn, but he didn’t feel scared. Zorn’s body language was loose, no aggression in sight, and even if he had been meaning to attack, Goku would be ready to defend himself now, not caught off guard like before. 

Zorn held up his hands, eyes focused on Goku, who watched back curiously. “I will do no harm onto you.” He promised, speaking directly to the beta. “My actions were rash, and I am deeply ashamed of myself. Merely thinking of the damage I could have done to the both of you fills me with dread.”

Goku raised his eyebrows. “Both of us?” He asked, sounding surprised. He didn’t think Zorn would have had much of a chance of harming Vegeta.

Zorn blushed faintly and looked down, eyes wet with emotions from thinking of what his actions could have caused. “Ah, excuse me. I realize it has not been made common knowledge yet; I just couldn’t help but notice…” Zorn trailed off when Goku merely continued to stare, but the commander noticed the hand the beta had subconsciously placed over his belly, and took it for confirmation of his assumption. Zorn bowed, hand fisted across his chest.

“I wanted to express my sincerest regret and apologies, and promise that from now on I will forever endeavor to protect you as the consort of prince Vegeta.”

Goku boggled at the man. “Riiight…” Somehow he didn’t think pointing out the _lack_ of relationship between himself and Vegeta would work right now. Goku found Zorn to be pretty damn weird, and he didn’t get what the man was insinuating, but at least it seemed like the commander no longer wanted to harm him, at all, so that was a relief.

“Sir? Should we remove him?” One of the guards asked Goku.

Goku shook his head. “Nah, he’s fine. I believe him. Let’s just get to Vegeta.” He said.

“Thank you sire!” Zorn called after Goku as he and the guards started walking away, Goku with a discomforted expression on his face. Weird start to the morning so far.

They walked in silence for a while, the guards visibly agitated by something they wanted to ask. Finally, when they were almost at Vegeta’s quarters, Goku turned to them with a sigh. “What is it?” He asked, while scratching his belly absently. The scab from yesterday itched.

The guards’ eyes flickered between Goku’s and his belly. “I-is it true?” One of them asked nervously, expecting a reprimand.

“Is what true?” Goku wondered, before following their gaze to where Zorn had nicked him yesterday. “Oh, right. Yea it is.” He guessed everyone would have heard about Zorn attacking him by now.

The guards visibly brightened up, excitement on their faces. One spoke up.  “Truly?! This is—Can we tell anyone?!”

Goku frowned. “I… Think people already know?”

“It’s just, we heard the rumor that you spent your heat alone, so we figured maybe…” The other fumbled to add in.

Goku scratched his head, unable to see what that had to do with anything. “Uhh, do what you want, I guess? I’m gonna go sleep now.” He said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the doors leading to Vegeta’s rooms.

Once the doors opened the guards were quick to announce his presence in loud synchronized voices. Goku winced at the noise, but set a straight line for the couch nonetheless. A blanket were hanging over the back, an addition since yesterday, and Goku used it to cover himself with before sinking into the mattress and pillows with a sigh, eyes closed.

He heard Vegeta dismiss the guards, and sensed the alpha walk closer until he came to a stand beside Goku. He could feel Vegeta watching him for a long moment. “I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.” The alpha informed him.

Goku hummed but didn’t open his eyes. He just wanted to sleep, and within minutes, that was exactly what he did.

xXx

Vegeta was working at the dining table in the lounge room, within sight of the sleeping Kakarot. He had dampened the lights around the sofa group as to not disturb the beta. After the attack yesterday… Vegeta had been unable to relax once Kakarot had left him. His instincts had wanted the beta close, and he’d slept badly. The fact that the other higher-ups refused to work with him and remove Zorn only pissed him off further. The man was under observation, yes, but Vegeta thought it was far from enough. He’d have preferred to tear out the man’s spine with his own hands.

He should have taken his chances yesterday, then he would have been able to call it defense. Instead he’d listened to Kakarot’s request… Foolish. Vegeta couldn’t allow the beta’s softness to rub off on him so easily. The results could be catastrophic. From now on he would not spare anyone who dared threaten them.

On the couch Kakarot turned in his sleep with a mumble. Vegeta watched him, once again distracted from his work. Having him close calmed Vegeta down, but it wasn’t conductive to getting much done. He glanced at the time. It would be noon soon, which meant Tarble would show up to teach Kakarot writing and reading, and that the beta had slept quite enough. Far longer than the two hours Vegeta had promised him, but he’d seemed to need it. Vegeta decided that he would eat with them before leaving for his meetings, and sent an order for food to be brought up.

Figuring that it wouldn’t take long before they were interrupted, Vegeta got up and walked over to Kakarot’s side, placing a hand on the younger saiyans shoulder and shaking him awake.

“Muhh?” Kakarot mumbled, blinking awake slowly, eyes puffy from sleep.

“Tarble will be here soon, so will lunch.” Vegeta informed him.

Goku sat up with a yawn, then stretched his full body, arms above his head, until his back popped. “Ngyhh… Okay… Guess I’ll get ready.” He mumbled, before stumbling off towards the bathroom.

As he splashed cold water in his face after finishing his business, Goku thought about the vague plans he had to bring up the whole mating debacle with Vegeta. Firstly how the alpha hadn’t even asked him to court, secondly how he assumed Goku’s answer was yes, and thirdly… What would he do if Goku said no?

It wasn’t exactly something he longed to discuss though, especially because that would mean that Goku would have to answer things too, and so once again he put it off. Maybe he could just see what happened, without doing anything… Tarble would be there soon anyway, which meant Goku would have more time to decide.

Relatively satisfied with this decision, Goku dried his face and walked back into the main rooms. At the same time a short knock was placed to the doors, before Tarble let himself in. The younger prince looked rather wild around the eyes.

“You two!” He called. “You won’t believe this!” He closed the door behind himself and walked further into the rooms. “I just heard from one of my colleagues, but somehow everyone is convinced that Goku is pregnant with the next heir!”

Goku and Vegeta both stared at him.

Tarble placed his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes and squinting between the couple. “You two weren’t just lying about Goku spending his heat alone and keeping this a secret from me, were you?”

Vegeta finally reanimated. “Don’t be an idiot.” He said as he gathered his work into a pile. “It’s just the usual overexcitement blowing things out of proportion and making shit up.” Though it would have been nice if it was true… Then Vegeta would have nothing more to worry about regarding the beta; Kakarot would have been his.

Goku blinked. “Ahh… So that’s what Zorn meant!”

“Zorn?!” Vegeta repeated, head snapping around to glare at Goku. “Don’t tell me you’ve been close to him!”

Goku scratched the back of his head as he walked over to sit back down on the couch. “He found me on my way here to apologize. I really don’t think you have to worry about him.”

“He tried to _kill_ you!” Vegeta yelled.

“So did you once, to be fair.” Goku argued absently, as he patted the seat beside himself while watching Tarble.

“That’s—!”

Tarble giggled at his brother’s thrown expression as he walked over to join Goku. The beta had a point. He sat down and turned to his friend. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that I’m not becoming an uncle, but I did think it sounded a bit strange. Sorry to hear about Zorn, I guess I didn’t tell him off seriously enough the first time…”

Goku waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it.” He said.

Vegeta continued fuming, tail fur bristling and arms crossed as he sat by the dining table. Seconds later someone knocked at the door again, and Vegeta stalked over to let in the servers with the food. “Put it there.” He demanded, pointing at the dining table, which he had moved into the main room since yesterday for this purpose. It was easier than using the sofa table.

When they got a look at the prince’s dark expression the servers were quick to jump to comply, unable to know that it wasn’t aimed at them.

Goku and Tarble moved over to the dining table as soon as the food had been put down, and Vegeta joined them after the last server had run off.

They didn’t talk much while they ate, aside from Vegeta once again preventing Goku from stuffing himself, and the beta complaining while Tarble sniggered. “I already feel much better!” Goku argued.

“Say that again after you no longer need nearly fifteen hours of sleep.” Vegeta returned.

Goku grumbled but refocused on his soup.

When the food was gone Vegeta gathered his work and stood up, he hesitated while watching Goku. “I have meetings to go to… But Tarble will be with you while I’m gone. I left the learning material over there.” He pointed towards the sofa table.

“Oh, okay.” Goku said easily, not noticing Vegeta’s unwillingness to leave.

Vegeta gritted his teeth, but with a final nod to his brother, he turned around and walked out.

Once the door closed Tarble turned to look at Goku. “So that was interesting.” He noted.

Goku paused in gathering the dirty plates. “What do you mean?”

Tarble sighed. “You don’t notice how Vegeta acts around you, do you?”

“Weirdly?” Goku suggested. Inconsistent would be his next guess.

Tarble groaned, even as he started helping with the plates. They could call a servant to do it but, well. Tarble wasn’t allergic to chores, unlike his brother. “He wants to _be with_ you.” Tarble impressed on his friend.

“Well he is ‘being with me’, I’m spending like the whole next week here.” Goku reasoned, not catching the drift.

“Not like that. I mean that he doesn’t like leaving you, and he wants you to notice him!”

“He’s hard to miss…” Goku responded. Vegeta was many thing, but easy to overlook was not one. If anything Goku was overly aware of the other man, and had been pretty much since waking up in space after getting kidnapped by him. He’d never spent that much time thinking about another person, and it confused him.  

Tarble pulled his hair. “Uuurgh! You’re being dense on purpose.” He accused.

Goku frowned. He wasn’t being dense exactly… He had noticed a definite shift in Vegeta’s demeanor. But on the other hand, Goku didn’t have a whole lot to compare it to before yesterday. Was Vegeta the angry short-tempered royal he had first gotten to know on Checkpoint 8, or was he this… Still not exactly friendly but strangely nicer version? Was he both? Goku didn’t know what to believe, or what had to do with Goku versus what was simply Vegeta’s personality in a more relaxed setting. It wasn’t like he’d ever thought that Vegeta was completely bad, otherwise he wouldn’t have stayed in an army Vegeta commanded, saiyan or not, but he didn’t know the prince well enough to find any one behavior of his weirder than the other. Goku was usually a pretty fast and good judge of character, but Vegeta really threw him off for some reason. Or maybe Goku was just thrown off by the way he found himself responding to the prince…

It was something he’d gone in circles over more than once during the whole beta self-realization/heat conundrum, and meeting up with Vegeta here again after spending five days thinking, and fantasizing (Goku was embarrassed to admit), about him only left him more confused. Goku had been pretty ready to write the other saiyan off as just a future opponent, heat thoughts and Vegeta going on about mating be damned, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Urrgh… This was why Goku usually just went along with what happened. This much thinking gave him a headache! He’d go back to taking things as they came, he decided. No one had demanded answers from him yet, so he didn’t have to come up with any.    

Keeping that in mind Goku simply shrugged at the accusation in the end, causing Tarble to grumble.

They’d finished cleaning up now, putting the plates back on the serving table they’d arrived on. Goku walked back to the couches, picking up one of the books Vegeta had left on the table there. The board of Daam displaying the setup from their unfinished game the day before was still there too. Goku leafed through the book, but couldn’t understand any of it. “Man… This might take a while.” He said.

Tarble was moody from Goku’s blaze attitude towards his brother, but he snatched the book from Goku’s hands and corrected him anyway. “That’s an advanced learner’s book. We’re starting with this one.” He said, holding up a much thinner one with lager and simpler symbols inside.

Goku took that one instead and sat down. He looked up again when he heard Tarble crack his knuckles, and saw him looking down on Goku with a face like he was ready for battle.

“Uh, T-Tarble…?” Goku swallowed nervously.

Tarble smiled disturbingly. “Let’s get learning, shall we?”

 

xXx

 

Vegeta didn’t like meetings. Having to deal with his generals was a pain, the men always trying to push through their own agendas, even as they were discussing strategies, or simpler things like troop distribution on the different bases. It gave Vegeta a headache.

To add insult to injury, the false rumor that Kakarot was pregnant seemed to have spread like wildfire, and the entire day Vegeta had been treated to acknowledging nods and even careful smiles from the few third classes working on this level, and veiled disgust and confusion from the Elites, who couldn’t understand his choice. They were pissed with Kakarot’s birth status, and with missing the chance to either catch Vegeta’s attention themselves, or foisting their own insipid offspring off on him. Vegeta had no patience for either. Not only was it frustrating, it was downright embarrassing, and Vegeta had done his utmost to ignore it all. Unless someone talked directly to him about it, he’d rather claim no knowledge of it. People would realize the screw up eventually he figured, so until then Vegeta would simply have to dodge inquires, less he have to point out how he had been refused by Kakarot during his heat; something Vegeta was very unwilling to rehash.

It was late afternoon once Vegeta returned to his quarters, and he entered with a sigh, completely unprepared for the greeting awaiting him.

“Waaah! Vegeta! Save me!” Goku yelled, throwing himself at the prince.

Vegeta caught him, eyes wide. “What the—“ He looked over Goku’s shoulder, at Tarble who was watching them, unimpressed and with a vaguely pissed off frown.

“Get back here Goku.” The younger prince commanded, tabbing his foot.

Vegeta put his hands on Goku’s waist, pushing the beta back so he could see his face. “What is going on?” He asked.

Goku’s eyes were big and puppyish. “Tarble is being mean! I don’t wanna learn from him anymore.”

Vegeta frowned and looked back at his brother for confirmation. Perhaps Tarble hadn’t been a much better teacher than Vegeta after all.

Tarble looked pissed. “You’re just not listening! Or making an effort. Gods, it’s like you’re illiterate or something!”

“I am!” Goku wailed dramatically, causing both princes to pause.

“What?!” Vegeta said.

“What do you mean?” Tarble asked, calming down when he realized how upset his friend actually was and wanting answers. 

Goku sniffled as Vegeta led him back over to the couches. He sat down with a mulish look, eyes focused on the floor. He hadn’t wanted to admit this. “On Earth… I never really learned how to read and write well there either. Master Roshi had this one book called Bob & Margaret, which he tried to teach me from, but that was all… And I wasn’t that good at it.” The things Bob and Margaret from the book had gotten up to had really weirded Goku out when he was a kid, and he hadn’t much liked it, even if it didn’t have as many dirty pictures as the other magazines in Roshi’s house.

“So I can read signs and simple things, like food, animals, colors n’ stuff, but that’s about it.” He finished, embarrassed and cheeks red. He knew they’d call him stupid. Everyone did once they found out how bad Goku was at reading and math.

Tarble sank down into the chair opposite from Goku. “Oh… I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.” He said, feeling bad now that he’d been acting so strict with his friend. He’d been thinking that Goku had been fooling around, not taking anything seriously, but now he realized that the lack of focus and constant changing of the subject may have more to do with Goku being unused to learning of that type, and the fact that his friend had no ground of reference.

“Have you never received any schooling?” Vegeta asked, brows furrowed. This was troubling, normally those sent off planet at least had drones or the computer on their ships to teach them, but Kakarot hadn’t had either, and it didn’t appear that anyone had taken much interest in his education aside from when it came to fighting.

Goku shook his head, cheeks still red and hands squeezed between his knees. As a child he’d never felt like he missed it, and once he got older and realized that he actually needed it, he’d been teased so much from his lack of knowledge that he’d lost the will to try. He’d done alright without it for so long that he figured that it wasn’t worth it.

Tarble reached over and grasped his friend’s arm. “I’m really sorry Goku, I didn’t realize where you were starting from… Sorry for getting frustrated and yelling at you, I’ll try to teach you in a better way, so please don’t give up.” Tarble pleaded.

Goku peeked up at Tarble, surprised by the sincerity and the lack of teasing. “You don’t think I’m stupid?”

 “No!” Tarble shook his head. “You just never had the chance to learn! That’s different, and not your fault.”

“Oh…” Goku mumbled, silently pleased. He wanted to check what Vegeta thought, but… He was too nervous to look at the older man, scared that he’d see a sneer on his face.

Vegeta sighed and briefly closed his eyes. He noticed how Kakarot wouldn’t look at him, and knew that he’d finally found a soft spot in the beta’s emotional armor, but it wasn’t one he was willing to exploit. “Figure out how to best teach someone from scratch, Tarble. And add math and natural sciences to the curriculum.” No matter how much weight saiyans put on battle power above all else, he couldn’t have a consort who was unable to even read.

“Yes brother!”

Vegeta squeezed Goku’s neck comfortingly, causing the younger man to startle and finally look up at him, eyes wide. “Let’s put the books aside for today.” He suggested, even as he was thinking of what else they could do. Maybe getting Kakarot out of the rooms for a bit would be good, the beta already looked ridiculously happy at the prospect of doing anything else, so Vegeta figured he could win some points. “I guess I’ll take you to the pools. The doctor said you could swim.” He thought out loud.

Goku perked up. “Really? You have somewhere we can swim?” He was feeling restless after just sitting around and sleeping. He knew he had to rest, but while he still felt tired, sore and a bit dizzy and nauseous when he moved too fast, he’d really like to do something else.

Tarble looked between Vegeta and Goku, noticing how Goku was finally looking up at his brother with stars in his eyes, and figured that this might be his cue to excuse himself. “You should take him to the hot baths, brother. It’s nice for sore muscles.”

“Hn.” That might actually be a better idea… Potentially more intimate too.

Tarble gathered the materials in a pile and stood up, brushing his lap. “Well, I guess I better get going. Enjoy yourselves you two!” He called while letting himself out, mentally crossing his fingers and praying that Goku would appreciate this initiative of Vegeta’s. Tarble couldn’t remember when his brother had last willingly taken time off to relax. Usually spreading blood and carnage on a planet was Vegeta’s answer to a good day.

“Bye Tarble.” Goku greeted absently as the door closed, already occupied by thoughts of bathing and swimming. Both would be nice. He’d often stopped to enjoy hot springs when he glimpsed them from above, back when he still spent his days flying around and exploring the Earth.   

There was another thing he missed; sunlight and fresh air. When he’d been living with Kami and Mr. Popo on the lookout, he’d had a permanent tan from all the sunlight he got. One time he’d wondered out loud to mister Popo if that as why the older man was so black, but both Kami and Popo had laughed at his question. “I wish we could go to a planet.” He mumbled out loud, thinking of clear wide skies.

“Why?” Vegeta asked, a bit surprised by the non-sequester.

Goku shrugged. “It’s just… Bathing got me thinking of the hot-springs back on Earth, and of how I’d spot them while flying around… I just miss the light and fresh air.”

“Hmm.” Interesting. Vegeta wasn’t unfamiliar with the frustration brought on from being cooped up on ships and space stations, though it was many years since he’d learned to ignore it. Kakarot’s laments gave him another idea for where he could bring the beta though. “Going planet side for no reason is out of the question, but I have somewhere else I can bring you later. Maybe tomorrow if you’re good.” He teased the last part, smiling slyly.

“I’ll be good?” Goku tried, unsure what Vegeta meant, but willing to promise if it meant he didn’t have to stay locked up for the entire day.

Vegeta sent him a half crooked smile. He doubted that the beta had caught the connotations, but it was amusing to hear him promise anyway. “Let’s go to the baths for now. If Earth has hot-springs too, then I’m sure you’ll like them.”

“Cool.” Goku said, getting up and following Vegeta out of the room. The prince led them through several hallways, and up and down with elevators, until Goku had completely lost orientation. But finally they made it to a floor which looked rather different than the hallways lining the living quarters. It was still a corridor, but at the end there was a balcony, and if Goku hadn’t known them to be on a space station, he could have sworn that it let outside; voices and bustling noise sounded from below it, and Goku was drawn to it. Vegeta allowed the distraction when he caught the beta’s curious wide eyes.

“What’s down there?” Goku asked as he moved over to lean on the railing.

“Just the shopping district.” Vegeta told him, coming over to lean beside him as they both looked down.

Goku gaped as he took it all in. The entrance to the area seemed to be directly below them, and from there a long broad hallway stretched out, with what looked like all kinds of shops lining both sides, and people milling about while sellers tried to lure them in. “Wow! It’s like a street in West City!” Except more messy and colorful perhaps.

The balcony let them have a clear sight of the area. It stuck out from a floor only meant for the royals, generals and diplomats from other planets, and as such Vegeta and Goku drew a bit of attention as they stood there, though Goku was too busy taking it all in to notice. “Just how massive is this place?”

Vegeta tapped his finger on the railing. “It can hold about five million, though most people are transient, so there’s never actually that many present. Despite all the amenities, few species are comfortable actually living in space after all.”

Goku stared at him. “That’s crazy.” He said, referring to the number of people.

Vegeta shrugged. “Only a fraction is actually saiyan. We are in alliances with lots of other species which have suffered under Frieza and his clan, and who continues to do so. Many have lost their home planets.” Vegeta thought of an example. “The Brench woman you met the other day, the doctor, she is one such person. The Brench home planet is now designated Cooler no.98, and under Galactic Frieza Army control.”

Goku squeezed the railing. “Oh…” He looked back out. Of course Goku had noticed the many other alien species fighting beside the saiyans, but he’d never thought much of the reason behind it. “And… You lead them all?” Goku wondered, only just starting to get how massive a force Vegeta was actually responsible for. He didn’t even know how many bases there was besides this one.

 “Yes…” Vegeta narrowed his eyes. “You sound surprised.”

Goku shrugged, still staring at the many people going through the motions of their daily lives below them, all of them soldiers. “I guess I just never thought about how many people were involved in this.” And frankly the massive number kind of unsettled him. It wasn’t just the soldiers of various species and origin which had let themselves be inducted into the saiyan army, but all the people behind them; family, friends, children… All of whom relied on them to one day bring down Frieza and his clan to free them.            

“It’s not something to take lightly.” Vegeta agreed, before taking hold of Goku’s arm and drawing him away. “Now come; the private baths are on this floor. I refuse to use the common ones.” They were crowded and noisy, and worse; filled with the lower classes.

“Right…” Goku mumbled, letting himself be drawn away from the balcony and to their actual destination.

The baths reminded Goku a bit of bathhouses on Earth or the private hot-springs where you had to pay for admission, which he supposed made sense, given the similar functions. He supposed the real difference was that everything was made from stone or marble, with wide pedestals supporting rounded ceilings and intricately carved columns. But most interesting were the stone basins, with their different levels of seating, and the clear warm water running into them from ornamental statues.

On planet Vegeta real hot-springs would have been piped inside to fill the baths, but here it was simply heated clear water.

Goku took it all in, lost in the colorful painted frescoes on the walls, depicting battles and animals and fruit which he couldn’t remember ever having seen, yet some of them tugged at him, like he _should_ remember, and it was just out of reach. Many of the people depicted had tails and were clearly saiyan, though some were smaller and had brightly colored hair and some sort of shooting weapons. Despite their blasters, they still seemed to be on the losing side in the battle depicted on a good part of the wall.

What disturbed Goku though, was the depiction of giant apes, as tall as buildings, with glowing red eyes, roaring underneath two moons, one of them full…

“It’s a depiction of the Tuffle-Saiyan war.” Vegeta told him, breaking him out of his thoughts. Vegeta took hold of Goku’s arm, pulling him to the side. “We have to wash over here first.”

Goku followed, but his mind stayed on the picture of the giant apes. Something about them made a shiver run down his spine, until it ended in a tugging like sensation in his tail. He couldn’t help thinking of the full moon monster he had heard about on Earth. The one who had also shown up during the World Tournament… But that was impossible, right?

“Those apes…” Goku asked, after they had pulled off their clothes and had stepped under the showers. They were both naked, nudity apparently common and not really a big deal among saiyans, at least in shared baths. Vegeta had his face raised to the water, but pulled back and shook his hair, making droplets fly around him. Kind of like a dog, Goku thought, though he didn’t share the observation. Vegeta either hadn’t heard Goku’s question, or he was ignoring it. In either case the prince walked out from the shower room and got into one of the heated pools. You could gradually move to warmer and warmer baths as you got used to the temperature, or even take a dip in the cold basin.

Vegeta rested his arms on the edge, and watched as Goku appeared through the stream, taking in the beta’s body as he slowly neared the basin in which Vegeta was sitting. The beta was well proportioned, and Vegeta let his half-lidded eyes glide lazily over Kakarot’s dips and curves, feeling a stirring in his groin at the sight of the wet marble skin and rolling muscles. It was a shame that they weren’t at a point where Vegeta could demand the beta come over and sit on his lap. He’d have liked nothing better than to grasp at that slim waist while he felt Kakarot’s hips move above his.

Goku didn’t notice Vegeta watching him. He got into the water hissing “hot, hot, hot” as he slowly lowered himself. It wasn’t unpleasant though. Finally he was in up until his neck, and sank back with a sigh, closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at the frescoes of the giant apes.

“Not bad, huh?” Vegeta asked, causing Goku to re-open his eyes in time to watch the prince glide through the water towards him.

“Uhm. No…” Goku agreed, a bit unnerved by the way Vegeta slithered through the water, expression predatory as he watched Goku. He reminded Goku of a shark that had smelled blood.

Vegeta caught the beta’s nervous expression and stopped himself with a low “Tch.” Looked like he would have to be patient, or risk tipping his prey off to early. Vegeta definitely planned on catching his quarry and biting into him, but once he did, he wanted Kakarot to _let him_. That in mind Vegeta adjusted his course slightly, until he came to a stop and sat down on the submerged shelf across from Goku. He smirked at the beta, raising an eyebrow innocently as if to ask ‘what? I wasn’t doing anything’.

Goku lowered himself until the water covered his burning cheeks. Maybe he had just imagined the way Vegeta had moved towards him… In either case the images which had popped up in Goku’s brain at the sight thoroughly embarrassed him, and he was happy that the water distorted his submerged body enough to not see… Everything.

“These baths are modelled after the ones we have on Planet Vegeta.” The prince told him after throwing around for a safe subject for a bit. “The frescoes on the walls all depict part of our history… Normally you wouldn’t have such serious depictions in a bathing area; you’d opt for plants and animals instead, pretty meaningless things, but we don’t have many chances to express our culture out here.” He cast a hand towards the paintings with a shrug, showing off the results of that.

Goku turned his attention to the paintings again. “Those apes…”

Vegeta bit his cheek. Shit. He’d forgotten about that again. If the little tidbit Kakarot had mentioned about how his grandfather died was true… Well, Vegeta would have been happy to foist off the explanation on someone else, but it had been bound to come out sooner or later. With a sigh he swam closer to Goku, this time being allowed to sit down next to the younger man. Perhaps he could still turn this to his advantage.

“There is something you need to know about saiyans, and it might upset you.” Vegeta told him factually.

Goku swallowed and turned his head to look at the older man. Part of him didn’t want to hear this. He had a bad feeling.

“The sun sends out something called blutz waves, but only when they are reflected by a planetary body, and absorbed through a saiyans eyes, does the glands in our tail react and we start to transform.” Vegeta told, watching Goku carefully. “Only trained elites keep their minds when it happens.”

“What kind of transformation is it?” Goku asked, voice small.

Vegeta turned his head, motioning with his eyes for the picture of the giant apes. Goku looked at them again, dread pooling in his chest. “W-we turn into that?”

“Under the right circumstances, say, a full moon…”

Goku gasped, denial losing to the tears slowly forming in his eyes. “That means I—I was the one wh-who…” Goku hiccupped, making the connections.

Vegeta reached out with his arm, grasped Goku by the back of his neck and drew the beta into his chest. Goku followed, body going limp as he hid his face in Vegeta’s neck, letting out the start of a sob as the first tears spilled down his cheeks. “G-granpa…” Goku cried.

Vegeta stroked the younger saiyan’s hair and pulled him closer. He did not care for the man who had died after taking Kakarot in and raised him, holding no affection for earthlings in the first place, and having never met the old hermit; but he could appreciate how the old fart’s death allowed for Vegeta to play caretaker and be the one to comfort the distraught beta. “Shhh…” He hushed. “You were a child. You couldn’t have known.”

He felt the beta shake his head, curled up practically on Vegeta’s lap as he was. It wasn’t exactly how Vegeta had planned to have him there but… Oh well, second best. “N-no… H-he warned me. He t-told me not to look at the full moon!” Goku cried.

Vegeta stroked one had through the beta’s wet hair and the other down his back. “Did he tell you why?”

“N-no… But I should have listened!”

“Then it couldn’t be helped.” Vegeta sighed. “Children are curious and disobedient by nature. I’m sure you were quite normal in that regard.”

Whether he agreed or not, Kakarot didn’t respond; he just pulled himself closer to Vegeta, putting his arms around the prince and crying into the alpha’s neck, his tears mixing with the warm waters of the bath. Vegeta held the shuddering teen as he worked through his grief, mildly discomforted by now at the show of emotion. Still, it would probably serve Vegeta’s cause in the end. Probably. At least Kakarot was nice to hold, especially soft and naked as he was.

They sat there for a long time, until their skin was pruned and Goku had cried himself into an exhausted sleep, body still weakened and fatigue only made worse by his surge of emotions. Vegeta contemplated what to do, but finally settled on simply carrying the beta out of the baths and wrapping the younger man in one of the giant quality towels put out to use. Vegeta himself only let go of Goku long enough to pull on his own pants, before picking up the still sleeping beta and walking back towards his own quarters. He could send a servant for the rest of their stuff.

He only passed a few people, but got some bogeyed looks, as he made his way back while carrying the exhausted looking and obviously-naked-under-the-towel Kakarot. Well, whatever. He was almost curious what the gossip machine would come up with based on this. He let himself into his own quarters, and foregoing the couch, walked straight to his own bedroom and placed Kakarot in his bed before pulling the comforter over him. The beta might not be happy to wake up there, but it was either that or re-dress him. Vegeta would just explain later, and probably get away with keeping Kakarot here for the night, which suited the prince just fine.

In the meantime… Kakarot was sleeping, but Vegeta had his own problems to take care of after having the wet, naked beta writhing against him and moaning into his ear. The reason might have seemed inappropriate, but his boner didn’t give a shit and neither did Vegeta, and as such the prince went to his shower to relieve himself.

It was the least he was owed. After all it looked like he’d be sharing his bed and getting absolutely nothing out of it tonight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goku learned his reading from an erotic book, this is canon, I shit you not.
> 
> I’ve never seen Goku as a character who cried much, but I remember him doing so when it came to his grandfather(and family in general), so I thought; hey, couple this with his hormones and the stress… Yea, he could probably use a good cry. Maybe also upsetting to learn that you're basically a wereape?


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s… Progress? *Gasp*

Goku felt listless when he woke up, and his eyes were sore and swollen. He sniffled and rolled over in the soft sheets, memories of yesterday, and of his grandpa, immediately intruding. Goku squeezed a firm pillow, hiding his face against it as sadness swept over him again.

The pillow grunted.

Goku pulled back, startled, and let go of Vegeta’s arm, which was what he’d mistaken for an object. He sat up and stared down at the sleeping prince with wide eyes. Goku, still sleep addled, took in his surroundings in several steps.

This wasn’t his room, or his bed. He was naked. Vegeta was sleeping next to him, also naked, at least from the chest up, which was what Goku could see thanks to the sheets. Goku really had to pee.

Not knowing how to react to any of the first things, and as such unable to deal with them, Goku went to take care of the last. He slipped from the bed silently, and tiptoed towards the bathroom, franticly trying to remember what he was doing here. He remembered crying against Vegeta in the baths, and then…

…

….Oh.

Well, that was embarrassing. Goku blushed as he washed his hands, and made sure not to meet his own reflection’s eyes. Crying on Vegeta’s shoulder he could sort of give himself, given the situation, but passing out on and probably being carried back by the other man… Goku wasn’t generally easily embarrassed, but he didn’t like showing weakness. Especially not to Vegeta, who Goku wanted to respect him and see him as an equal.

Silently he crept back into the sitting room, casting a look around, but not finding his clothes anywhere. That was bad. On the big communication screen on the wall Goku could read the time; it was past 6 am, closer to 7, and Vegeta would probably soon wake up. Goku didn’t know if he cared to stop the impulse he had to run away and not see the other saiyan for a while… Okay no, he didn’t care, but he needed his clothes for that. It didn’t seem like he’d find them out here though.

Because of that Goku tiptoed back into Vegeta’s bedroom, making his way slowly to the big wardrobe in there, and carefully pulled it open. If he could just find a pair of pants—

“What are you doing.”

Goku meeped and jumped at Vegeta’s voice suddenly coming from behind him. He swirled around to face to prince, only to remember that he was naked, and suddenly feeling a lot more awkward about that than yesterday when they’d been in the baths. It seemed different to be naked here, in another person’s bedroom. “Uhm. I was just. Clothes?” Goku tried to explain himself.

Vegeta looked mussed up, one side of his face having pressure lines from the pillow and his hair even more wild and messy than usually. “Just take whatever.” He grunted and flopped back down. He listened as Goku grabbed something and hurriedly left the room, before slowly getting up himself.

Truth be told Vegeta had woken up as soon as the beta had, but had decided to give the younger man a chance to get a hold of himself before revealing himself to be conscious. Vegeta ran a hand over his face tiredly. It was probably best not to make a big deal out of yesterday, with how skittish Kakarot seemed. Granted, the younger man _had_ cried on him. Vegeta wouldn’t have been caught dead doing that sort of thing, but of course he also wasn’t a beta; they were generally allowed more emotional outbursts.

Goku could hear Vegeta getting up, and hurried in pulling on the under armor he’d snagged. The material was a bit different from that of his own, and it was blue instead of red, with what Goku now knew to be the royal symbol emblazoned on the chest. Luckily there wasn’t too much height difference between him and Vegeta, only a bit more than 2 inches, and the clothing stretched. Raditz had said Goku wasn’t fully grown, saiyans only reaching physical maturity around 25, which made him wonder how much taller than Vegeta he would get. Of course he didn’t know if Vegeta was fully grown either… It occurred to Goku that he’d never asked about the other saiyan’s age. Raditz was nine years older than Goku, making him around 28… Goku wasn’t completely clear on his own birthday, for obvious reasons, and had sort of forgotten to ask about it. He thought he was close to 19 though.

Sidetracked by his thoughts, Goku just happened to notice the scouter squeezed in between a pair of pillows in one of the chaise lounges. It was his! After a moment Goku remembered forgetting it after Vegeta had thrown it there after talking with Raditz the night before. He walked over to pick it up, but made a face when he saw the little green screen beeping furiously with both missed calls and notifications of unread messages. He could guess who they were from.

Goku hesitated to answer for a while, procrastinating by going over to the kitchenette and starting on making tea. Between his by now probably livid older brother and Vegeta, Goku found it quite easy to choose where to stay, lingering awkwardness from yesterday be damned. As he stirred a spoon in his own mug he heard Vegeta using the bathroom, and figured that he probably only had a few minutes left before the prince joined him. He’d rather get the scolding over with before then.

Apprehensively he picked the scouter back up, and pressed the call button, but he held the scouter a few inches from his face instead of putting it on, which turned out to be a good idea when Raditz’ voice came through.

_“KAKAROT!”_

Goku winced. “Hi Raditz…”

_“Where the HELL are you, you idiot? Do you have any idea what I thought when you didn’t come back yesterday?! Do not tell me you slept with Vegeta! Rolling over for him like that is simply—“_

“Whoa! Hey, I—We didn’t do anything. I just fell asleep… On the couch. Alone.” Goku decided to lie a bit, “It really wasn’t a big deal, but I’m sorry I worried you.”

_“Of fucking course I worried! Mom would kill me if anything happened to you, shield or not she’d find a way. And you don’t know if there are more people like Zorn running around!”_ Raditz scolded him. _“I realize the whole baby rumor is bogus; I didn’t let anyone near you after all, but it has sure stirred things up. There are a lot of elites none too pleased with the thought of Vegeta reproducing with a third class, and_ some _third classes are calling you a traitor for kissing up and bending over.”_ Goku heard Raditz sigh, and could imagine his older brother running a hand through his wild mane of hair. _“It’s kinda a mess. Not all gossip is benign, you know? You need to watch what you say and do or this shit might escalate.”_

Goku sat down, clutching his warm mug in a clammy hand. “I’m not sure what to do about it…” He admitted. Goku had never cared about his image so to speak. He’d never had to.

_“Just… I hate to say this, but ask Vegeta about it. Even if he’s more prone to killing someone to stop them from talking, he does have some training in diplomacy, I’m sure.”_ Raditz told him. _“And come back here tonight. Normally saiyans don’t give a shit about how much or with who others sleep around with, but you’re cuddling up to royalty, so normal rules don’t apply, and you spending the night with Vegeta while unmated doesn’t reflect well. You’re not gonna kill the pregnancy rumors if you’re found sleeping together either.”_ Raditz added, frustration clear in his voice.

Goku swallowed. “Okay… I’ll do that.” He promised. Raditz grunted in confirmation, but then the call just cut off; Goku’s older brother clearly still too mad with him to tell him bye. Goku sighed and lowered the scouter to his lap.

“You know there’s an easy way to _fix_ those worries, don’t you?”

Goku’s spine stiffened as Vegeta’s words rang out behind him. “…I think I can guess.” He muttered reluctantly, as he felt Vegeta walk up and lean on the back rest right behind him.

“You don’t _have_ to be in heat for me to bite you.” Vegeta whispered in his ear, face close. If properly stimulated the gland on the beta’s tail would guaranty the right reaction, heat or not. “We could take care of this right now…” He cajoled, voice a purr  

Goku pushed away from the couch, getting up and walking to the other side of the room before he whirled around and settled his gaze on Vegeta. “Technically, were not even courting.” He said.

Vegeta sneered. “Don’t be cute.” He admonished. “You’re not this clueless, so don’t try it with me.” There was no way to misunderstand the last two days they had spent together, not in Vegeta’s mind, and he was getting tired of the constant back and forth. Kakarot pulling away every time he pushed.

Goku shifted his weight and looked away while crossing his arms. He’d hoped no one would ask him to make decisions yet… He didn’t know what to say, so in the end he said nothing.

Vegeta glared at him for a while, until he lost his temper and growled in frustration. He vaulted over the couch, speeding up until he reached Goku and forced him to take several steps back until his back collided with the wall. “What do you **_want_** from me!?!” Vegeta yelled, teeth bared. He clenched his fist in the blue cloth of Goku’s borrowed suit and pulled him closer.

Goku continued to avoid eye-contact.

“TELL ME DAMN IT!” Vegeta roared, shaking the younger man.

“I don’t KNOW okay?!?” Goku yelled back finally, turning his head back around, eyes flashing. He grabbed the wrist of the hand Vegeta had fisted in his shirt and squeezed it. “What do _you_ even want from _me_?!”

Vegeta drew back. “Like I haven’t already made that obvious!” He scoffed. He grabbed Goku’s chin and forced the beta to look him directly in the eyes as he spoke next. “ _I_ want _you_ to become my mate, my consort, and carry our children, who will then one day rule _our_ planet. Is that clear enough for you?” He asked, teeth bared and patience dangerously close to snapping.

Goku stared back, eyes wet from anger, chin still caught between Vegeta’s calloused fingers. He tried to pull himself free, and get out of the alpha’s grasp, but Vegeta didn’t allow him to slip away and kept a firm hold on him.

Fed up with the beta’s wordless struggle, Vegeta smashed their foreheads together in a head-butt, hard enough to hurt and bring the beta pause. Kakarot squeezed his eyes shut from the pain at first, but then stared back at him with wide eyes, surprised hurt easy to read in his dark orbs this close; they were almost nose to nose.

Vegeta closed his own eyes briefly, gathering himself before he looked back again. “If you’re so determined to avoid this… Why are you letting it continue?” He asked, voice more subdued now. “If I let you go right now… Would you be fine with walking away and our paths never crossing again?” He demanded. He needed to know.

The question seemed to throw Goku for a loop. After a moment the beta slowly brought up his own hand and fisted it in the clothes on Vegeta’s back. Goku closed his eyes, the closest he could come to escaping right now. “No…” He admitted quietly.

Vegeta let out a deep sigh, some of his tension loosening and heart giving a traitorous pang. “Then let me have you, or… Let me have _something_.” He asked. Vegeta would never beg, but this... Kakarot was like water slipping between his cupped hands, impossible to keep a hold of, always getting away. Vegeta enjoyed a good hunt, he could chase his quarry for hours in the forests of big planets for the simple thrill of it, but he actually wanted to eat in the end.

Vegeta allowed some distance between them, pulling back a bit, but Goku didn’t push away, he stayed where he was, face lowered. Goku’s voice remained quiet. “I’m not sure how much… I’m not sure what I can…” What he could give without feeling like he was losing something. The alpha’s question had made him realize that he did want more than nothing though. 

“Let me court you. Properly. Stop running.” Vegeta suggested.

Goku looked up. “I’m not running, I—“

“No, you are.” Vegeta interrupted. “Even when we are together, you run from me, letting no one close. Even Tarble you keep at a safe distance, despite calling him your friend.”

Goku clenched his fingers in Vegeta’s clothes and grit his teeth, eyes flashing. “You kidnapped me. I never asked to be brought here, and I’m trying, I am, but it’s not the same, nothing about my life here is like that on Earth.” He admitted, voice hoarse and fire dying out. He’d finally found the words for the feelings which plagued him. “And I feel like… If I let anyone close, then I’ll lose any chance of returning.”

Vegeta clenched his jaw and bit off his immediate response which was to ask why Kakarot would even want to. If it hadn’t been millions of light years away he’d have blasted that blue ball out of existence for holding any sway over the object of Vegeta’s interest. He searched for a response which wouldn’t drive the beta away though. “Accepting this part of who you are, your saiyan heritage, doesn’t make your experiences up ‘til this point any less real. It doesn’t make you someone else, just adds a new layer.”

Goku looked back up, meeting Vegeta’s eyes again with a naked expression, and Vegeta had to hold back a smirk. He’d spoken correctly. “Stop running.” Vegeta told him, placing a hand on his cheek. “ _Look_ at me.”

Goku’s breath hitched. “I—“ He closed his eyes; looking back was too intense. “I… Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes, you can… You can court me.”

He’d sort of been letting Vegeta do that anyway, but saying it out loud still felt different, the words heavy in his mouth. At the same time a burden seemed to have been lifted. Goku didn’t have to worry about this anymore; it was done.

Goku slumped against the wall even as Vegeta drew close once again and sank his face in between Goku’s neck and shoulder, to hide his self-satisfied smirk there. He purred and slipped his hand into the beta’s hair, massaging his scalp to calm him. Hook, line and sinker… Now all Vegeta needed to do was reel him in, slowly, letting the line go lax every time the beta struggled. Vegeta had him now, he could be patient.

The door slammed open.

“You guys won’t believe what—Oh…!” Tarble stumbled to a stop, and stared wide-eyed at the position he had caught his brother and Goku in; up against the wall and intimately close.

Goku hid his face in Vegeta’s shoulder instead of looking at his friend, and the older prince sent a murderous glare at Tarble, furious to have been interrupted.

Tarble held up his hands and backed up quickly. “I-I’m so sorry! Please don’t shoot!” Vegeta’s energy attacks, while never aimed to kill his little brother, could still easily main him and had done so in the past. “I’ll leave!” Tarble practically yelled.

Goku finally pulled himself together. “No it’s…” He looked up at Vegeta. “It’s okay, right? He can have breakfast with us?” He asked carefully, almost deferentially, still feeling momentarily fragile after the emotional conversation.  

Vegeta gritted his teeth. No it wasn’t fucking alright, but he couldn’t very well refuse when Kakarot was asking him in that sweet voice and with that expression. “…Fine.”

Goku smiled at him, and to Vegeta’s immense surprise, actually briefly nuzzled his cheek before drawing away. Vegeta stared after him. It was the first time Kakarot had initiated… Well, anything.

Tarble still stood frozen by the door, too scared to move and not totally believing of his brother’s sudden goodwill. Luckily the older prince currently seemed more occupied with watching Goku’s swaying hips and tail as the beta started making more tea. Tarble carefully closed the doors and inched his way into the room until he could sit down on the couch. He stayed quiet and settled for overserving the other two saiyans in silence. He did _not_ want to call attention to himself right now.

“Could you call for some food Vegeta?” Goku asked mildly.

Vegeta jumped, catching himself in staring stupidly. The beta seemed completely calm now compared to just before, like now that he’d made a decision, he was simply accepting it and rolling with it. “…Right.” He went to make the call, still somewhat distracted by Kakarot who was now humming some upbeat tune. Really, the man gave Vegeta whiplash.

“Do you want sugar and milk Tarble?” Goku asked.

The younger prince spasmed so hard he almost fell off the couch. “Uhm, sure!” He squeaked. Really, this was not how he had hoped to spend the morning. Mortal peril should never be experienced before noon.

“What did you want to tell us when you came in?” Goku asked, carrying over a tray with tea and placing it on the sofa table. Tarble picked his mug up with still faintly shaking hands. He couldn’t recall at all right now, every thought had fled from his brain at the look his older brother had given him when he had barged in.

“I’ll tell you after we eat.” He promised to buy himself some more time. He cast around for another subject, eyes flickering nervously to his brother who was talking to the kitchens. “Uh, any news with you?”

“Yes, I agreed to Vegeta courting me.” Goku told him as he sat down; smiling faintly with a small blush like it was some slightly embarrassing secret.

Tarble blinked. “Oh…” He’d been under the impression that the two were already very much doing that. “That’s great!” He managed, still confused, but whatever, he’d run with it.

Goku just nodded, cheeks still red, and drank from his own mug. Vegeta was finishing his talk with the kitchens, and Tarble felt a bit desperate to draw Goku back into a conversation before his brother came over; it might keep him safe. “So that means you’d be… Dating was it? In Earth terms?”

Goku paused with his mug halfway to his mouth, then slowly sat it back down. Vegeta joined them, plumping down next to Goku close enough that their arms brushed and sending Tarble a glare. Tarble avoided eye contact.

“I’ve actually never dated anyone. I just went straight to engagement.” Goku said.

“What?/WHAT?!” The princes exclaimed at the same time, with two very different inflections.

Vegeta was the first to speak again. “What do you mean by that?! There was someone else!!?” A growl started up deep in his throat and his tail puffed up and came uncurled from around his waist. If this was why Kakarot had been so hard to catch… “ _Who.”_ He demanded to know. He’d need a target to go hunting. Or he’d make good of his thought of blowing up the Earth.

Tarble curled up on the very end of the couch, scared shitless. Vegeta probably wouldn’t hurt his own beta, but that just meant he’d choose another target to vent his frustrations on. Like Tarble.

Goku gestured for Vegeta to calm down, eyes widened. “It was hardly even a thing! I just didn’t know what I was getting into. ChiChi came to find me during the last tournament I was in, and she was really angry because she said I’d broken my promise to marry her. But I didn’t remember at all, because it was something I’d said when I was a kid while thinking it was about food. Then she got upset though so I figured I’d go along with it, but then it was kinda bothersome, so I ran away for a little bit before the wedding and then you showed up.” Goku explained everything hurriedly.

Vegeta’s fur slowly sleeked back down and his growl died out. “…She?” He repeated. “An Earth woman?” Kakarot would have consented to marrying what equated to another beta? …Well, that kind of thing did happen, even Vegeta had taken pleasure in other men before, it was not a particularly uncommon practice to do so among saiyans, but rarely for matings. Mating someone was ultimately about producing offspring. Though of course beta men _were_ said to be able to do both… Vegeta’s lips pulled back in the beginning of a snarl again, but Goku just patted his hand calmingly, smile back in place.

“I figured it wouldn’t work out after all, so don’t worry about it.” Goku placated. “Though… You did kinda kidnap me before that, so ChiChi doesn’t know yet.”

Vegeta rumbled. “Good. I’m not losing to some human wench. I’d break her fucking neck.” He’d do more than that.

Goku smacked him reproachfully on the shoulder. “ _Vegeta_. Be nice. ChiChi isn’t a bad person, and it’s not like I’d change my mind anyway.” Frankly Goku didn’t really think women interested him. He’d certainly never had reactions to them like he’d had to Vegeta, or even, embarrassingly enough, Turles. Not that he ever planned on telling Vegeta the last part.

On the other side of the couch Tarble was slowly uncurling. This level of stress was bad for his heart. He didn’t know how Goku stayed so unfazed by Vegeta’s anger. Perhaps it was because the beta had never seen Vegeta slaughter 4 entire battalions with his bare hands while laughing madly. Shit like that usually drove the point home. Tarble hadn’t been able to even look at meat for the next two weeks after what Vegeta had turned those men into.

While Tarble had been ruminating on the past, Vegeta had snagged a hand around Goku’s waist and drawn the beta closer, which the younger saiyan had actually allowed, almost cuddling up against him. So it would seem like Tarble had been wrong, and there were indeed some difference between their interactions before and now. Namely Goku’s willingness to put up with Vegeta’s jealous fits and allowing the alpha nearer to him.

“Uhm, I was never really worried about you leaving my brother,” Tarble started, mostly to placate said maniac before he continued, “But would you mind telling me a bit about how courting on Earth works? We didn’t get around to it last time and I’m curious.” Also Vegeta could probably use all the help he could get if it’d taken him this long to even get Goku to agree to court with him.

Goku hummed and looked upwards, head tilted. “Well, I’m not too sure really, but let’s see… Bulma dated Yamcha and they would… Hmm, eat together? And watch movies I think she said? Oh! We went to an amusement park once, but they weren’t really speaking at that point.” Goku pondered what else he could tell, but came up short. “If dating is for seeing if you like each other, then I guess engagement is like when you’ve agreed that you’re gonna marry, but it might still take a while…” He frowned. “I’m… Not really clear on the differences. The Ox-King, ChiChi’s dad, tried explaining it to me, but it was all a bit confusing.”

“Ox- _King_?” Tarble repeated. “Were you mating into royalty on Earth too?”

“Marrying.” Goku corrected, ignoring how Vegeta had started growling again, “But I guess so. Huh.” He chuckled. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Vegeta tightened his grip on Kakarot. So his beta had been about to mate with the Earth princess… How infuriating. No wonder Vegeta’s title had held so little sway with Kakarot if the young man was used to being around royalty. It pissed him off.

Tarble raised his eyebrows. Snagging a royal was no mean feat to do one time, let alone two, yet here Goku was, laughing and completely blaze about it. “Are there no important customs for Earth marriages?” He asked, while trying to ignore the murder aura seeping out from Vegeta. At least Goku was acting like an oblivious buffer between them.

Goku tapped his chin with a finger. “Hmmm… Oh! You exchange rings!”

“Rings?”

“Yea!” Goku held up his left hand and pointed to the fourth finger counting from the thumb. “It’s supposed to go here, put there by your partner, and then you never take it off.” He let his hand fall down again. “I cared more about the giant cake you’re supposed to eat at the reception though. It had _tiers_. Like, eight of them and all with different fillings!” Goku said dreamily.

The two other saiyans tried to imagine that, and soon found their stomachs rumbling. Goku sighed, eyes distant. “I’d really have liked to eat that cake.” He said wistfully.

“You can have a cake with sixteen tiers once you’re better.” Vegeta promised, not about to lose to some Earth made confection, and also pretty interested in eating a giant multi-tasting cake himself.

Tarble hesitated, wanting to try it too, but in the end stayed quiet. It probably wasn’t a good idea to come between either of the other two when it came to food.

“Really?” Goku gasped. “Thank you Vegeta!” He exclaimed, leaning in and quickly rubbing his head against Vegeta’s, almost like an overgrown cat.

Vegeta smiled cockily. “Hmpf. Of course. There is no way we could go with merely _eight_ tiers.” He said the number like a curse word.

Tarble looked dully at the two overexcited idiots, and mentally swore to himself that when he took a mate, it would be someone smart and intelligent, but preferably also someone who’d let him have his own sixteen layered cake too.

Their breakfast arrived then, luckily seeing as the three saiyans had all gotten hungry from the talk of cake. The servers who rolled the table in was staring as usual, and this time they took notice of how Goku was resting easily against Vegeta, happily discussing taste variations with the alpha while gesturing, and trying to explain what raspberry tasted like. Vegeta was arguing for some other type of fruit which he’d gotten on another planet once, and was sure would be good in a cake. Another thing was that the beta was dressed in royal blue, with the crest of the Vegetas emblazoned on his chest. It caused some double takes.

Tarble was the one to shoo them out of the room this time. Their presence caused him to remember what he’d wanted to discuss when he first got there though. After they had all eaten, and relocated to the sofas once again, Tarble cleared his throat.

“So I don’t want you to worry too much, but there are people out there who are not too happy about you and Goku being, well… Right now they still think Goku’s pregnant, but just the fact that you’re courting is probably enough.” Tarble brought up soberly.

It put a dampener to Goku’s mood, and his smile started falling as he thought back on his conversation with Raditz. “Yea, my brother told me so too.” He bit his lip. “I’m not sure what we could do about it though.”

Vegeta opened his mouth.

“—Aside from that, which isn’t happening right now.” Goku cut him off.

Vegeta closed his mouth again sulkily.

Tarble glanced between them. “Well the first class and the elites think that Goku is too weak. None of them has seen him in battle, or felt his power, so they don’t believe in the rumors about his strength. They think it’s fabricated to make them shut up about you two being together.”

Vegeta rubbed his temple with one hand. “Fucking morons. Like I care what they think.” Whoever he chose to mate was Vegeta’s prerogative, and the elite were all fools if they thought he’d be drawn to someone who couldn’t measure up to him. Kakarot might still lack training, but his basis was good and he had untapped power just waiting to be used.

Tarble sighed. “Yes, well… If fractions start forming to overthrow your rule, or harm Goku, it could be trouble. They wouldn’t be coming at you in honorable battle.” They would be smart enough to realize the folly of that at least. “As for the third class…” He looked at Goku. “Some are happy about this, some are not. They have practically been campaigning you; as the third class son of our ‘savior’ who rose to power until he could match even the elite. It’s quite the story by now.” Tarble added. “So some are feeling betrayed that you’d mate with Vegeta, instead of sticking to your roots, so to speak.”

Goku frowned at that, thinking of the situation on planet Vegeta, and about how his father had looked at him when he had accused Goku of smooching up to Vegeta. “…I guess I should tell my family.” He mumbled. At least his mother would probably be happy on his behalf, and if he didn’t write in advance he probably wouldn’t even have to see his father; or the expression on Bardock’s face when he learned.

Tarble scratched his hair. “I’m not sure what to do about the third and second class to be honest, but some of the elites might be placated by a show of power. It helps that your new teammates are already insisting on how crazy strong you are Goku.”

Goku blinked at that. “They are? I didn’t think they liked me.”

Tarble shrugged. “Not sure if they do, but they’ve seen you raise your power to 9000 at least, which is pretty damn high even for an elite.” Actually only a couple dozen of the generals and higher ranking officers had powers of that level or above, a usual elite lying somewhere below that, but above 4000.

Vegeta snorted. “Kakarot’s power is far higher than that.” He allowed himself to feel a bit proud about that now that the beta was well on his way to becoming his.

Goku winced, and looked at Vegeta. “Yea, about that. I know I can raise my power more, I did it when I fought with you, but I still can’t control it. I haven’t tried it while I was at a hundred percent, but it seems like if I go much above half power, then it starts affecting my movements.”

Vegeta frowned. “It _was_ a weird surge to suddenly experience…” For a brief moment Vegeta had even thought about the legends of the golden warrior, whose power had risen to unimaginable levels, but he had quickly brushed it off. Kakarot might be strong and have some unusual power quirk which Vegeta hoped to pass on to their children, but he was still just a third class soldier.

Goku looked away, the sweet taste of fruit and Turles’ dark eyes flashing across his memory. “Yea…”

“Once you’re feeling better you can train with brother.” Tarble said, hoping to reassure his friend when he noticed the sudden subdued, almost shameful look flashing across Goku’s face. Or was it regret? It had only been there for a second.

Goku allowed himself a small smile at that, and glanced at Vegeta. “Yea, I’m looking forward to that.”

Vegeta smirked back. “Likewise.”

Whatever else he might feel about eating the fruit of might, Goku was happy that it would at least allow him to fight on more equal terms with Vegeta. But on the other hand… Goku was sure that he could have made it there himself eventually too, and somehow eating the fruit… It made him feel ashamed with the regard shown to him for his powers. Goku hadn’t felt like this when he’d drank the ultra-divine water to defeat Demon Lord Piccolo, or when he’d gotten zenkai boosts after almost dying. But suddenly he wished he could have bragged about his current power being all his own, and was a bit confused by the desire. He’d never been prideful or one to brag about anything before… It was just that when Vegeta looked at him, or acknowledged his strength like he’d just casually done, it made Goku’s heart flip and his blood rush. He wanted to show off to the alpha he realized, and to be praised.

Embarrassed by these new desires… Or no, maybe they weren’t so new, but Goku hadn’t been aware of them before. In any case he looked down into his own lap and blushed fiercely. He would have to get a grip, because fighting like this would only trip him up.

A new resolution started growing within Goku then. He’d earn his power. He would master it, and then grow even stronger, showing everyone, but most importantly himself, that he didn’t have to rely on the boosts he’d been given. He’d scale this wall too, and on the other side… On the other side he would defeat Vegeta, potential mate or not, and then Frieza would be next.

“Kakarot?”

Vegeta’s voice brought Goku out of his ruminations. “Ah, yes! Sorry I just… I guess I have a lot to think about.”

Vegeta watched his beta carefully. “Don’t stress too much. It’s only been a couple of days and you still need rest.”

Goku smiled and leaned back against the alpha. He admitted to himself that he liked it when Vegeta showed concern, something that didn’t seem to come naturally to the prince otherwise. “I will, don’t worry.”

Tarble smiled as he watched the interaction. “I guess we can put a hold on worrying for now… How about we start with your lessons a bit earlier today Goku, and then after lunch you can talk to your family when Vegeta comes back?” Tarble thought briefly of Bardock’s reaction to seeing Vegeta anywhere near his son, and winced. “Or before. Before is good too.”

Goku laughed. “It’ll probably just be my mother. My dad works a lot.” And Goku would feel no remorse at someone else having to tell Bardock about Goku and Vegeta courting anyway. Maybe he could make it be Raditz? He smirked as he thought up the plan to mess with his older brother... Nah, it probably wouldn’t work, but it was a fun thought. Goku didn’t know if it was a sibling thing he’d discovered after coming here, but he did love to mess with Raditz. His brother’s real anger wasn’t fun, but his grumbling lamentations about Goku’s shenanigans were.

Vegeta stood up reluctantly. He’d skipped quite a bit of work yesterday to go to the baths, and then he’d fallen asleep early simply because having Kakarot in his bed and not spending the time lying next to him had seemed folly. It meant he’d have quite a backlog today, which Tarble seemed to know. “I’ll probably only be back sometime tonight. My work has piled up…” He grumbled. It had been many years since he’d had something he’d rather been doing than work, yet here he was. He looked down at Kakarot. “I know I mentioned taking you somewhere else, but it’s probably good if you spend today resting anyway. The more rest you get in now, the sooner we can start training again.”

Goku looked back, eyes sparkling. “Well, that’s motivating.” He grinned. “I’m itching to fight you.”

“Same here.” Vegeta smirked back, eyes dark.

Tarble wished his brother and Goku wouldn’t flirt when he was in the room with them. He was rooting for them, sure, but this was a bit much. “Ahem.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll get the books?”

This seemed to snap the couple out of it, and Goku rubbed the back of his neck with a laugh. Vegeta glared at Tarble, but did go to find his tablet and then left.

Tarble placed the books down with a smile. “Okay Goku. This time I promise I’ve found some good ways to teach you, so are you ready to try?”

Goku took a deep breath and shook his arms out. “Yea, let’s do this!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a 3,9 inch difference between Goku’s and Vegeta’s height in canon, but apparently Goku didn’t reach his final height until he was like, 25. I guess saiyans grow differently? (Probably Toriyama just wanted him taller, but whatevs, I’m running with alien biology XD) 
> 
> But anyway! How about that. They talked to (screamed at) each other and worked some shit out. Now if only nothing comes along to ruin it…


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, there’s the start of the obstruction we were all waiting for.

“Prince Vegeta please wait!”

“I will not!” Vegeta continued his angry stride out of the council room, ignoring the cries of his name, but a few of his generals followed.

“Sire, we need you on this mission, you have said it yourself; we cannot know how long the chip will stay operational, and Frieza is getting wise to our success.” One, named Aubern, pleaded. “He is clearly squeezed into a corner to do this so—“

Vegeta growled and slammed his fist into the wall, causing a sizable dent. “How is it,” He started, voice a dangerous calm, “That I lead an army of _millions,_ yet everyone but myself appears to be too incompetent to fulfil a simple defend and attack mission!?”

The generals gathered around him, heads bowed and hands fisted across their hearts. Aubern spoke again. “Only we saiyans have the necessary strength to face Frieza’s troops directly in battle. The base Frieza is planning on attacking is one of our most vital trade points in the alliance, and the planet it rests on home to thousands of our most elite allied warriors.” The general impressed. “If we lose it, we might lose their backing…”

Vegeta clenched his teeth. He _knew_ all this. But damnit!... Taking a deep breath, he slowly pulled his fist back out of the crumpled wall. “Ready our troops, we leave tomorrow at noon.”

“Only tomorrow?! But sire! Time is of the—“

“Shut up! I know what I am doing.” Vegeta glared at the men before straightening up. “Frieza will not attack straight away. If this truly is a direct attack, he will want to lure as many of us out there as he can first. Watch his movements, I want people covering his transmissions to the compromised ship every second. Analyze the pattern of his troop formations. Frieza is powerful, but he can be lazy in his set ups, he uses the same tricks over and over again, if it’s one I’ve seen before, I will recognize it.”

Vegeta started walking again as he talked, his generals following along. “I refuse to go into this blind. Start evacuation of the planet, but get a hold of the shield technicians. We have codes in case of this people! Tell them to get their asses in gear. Their new shield technology may get its chance to stand the test. And get my brother!” With a swing of his cape Vegeta stalked off, leaving a chorus of ‘yes sir!’ behind.

He knew he couldn’t avoid his involvement in this battle, but he had no doubt that the timing of it suited many of his generals’ just fine. They knew why he wanted to stay on Base one right now. With frustration running in his veins Vegeta continued his brisk walk until he reached his quarters, but he paused outside the door. He had to gather himself.

With a final sigh Vegeta loosened the tight grip his tail had around his waist and walked in. Voices greeted him as soon as he stepped inside. Kakarot was using the communications system to talk to a woman; she looked vaguely familiar. His mother perhaps? Tarble was nowhere in sight, it was already past dinnertime.

“—And then Tarble explained how—Oh!” Kakarot turned around, grin widening as he spotted the prince. “Mom, Vegeta’s back.”

Vegeta walked slowly into view of the screen, coming to a stand behind Kakarot and placing a hand on the beta’s shoulder. “Hello.” He greeted with a respectful nod of his head. On screen the woman tittered.

“Hello prince Vegeta. I hear you’ve afforded my son quite the honor.” She sounded pleased, but not like many would be, for the chance of social climbing and influence. No, instead her eyes were warm and smile gentle, as she watched where Vegeta had placed his hand on her son’s shoulder; this was a mother happy that her child had found someone who valued them and saw their worth, nothing more.

“The honor is mine.” Vegeta returned. His mind was still on the upcoming battle, but he tried to add something to lighten her impression of him. “He certainly didn’t make it easy on me.” He squeezed Kakarot’s shoulder and the beta laughed easily; a happy sound. It seemed to rattle against Vegeta’s tense core.

“Well you were being a jerk, so.” Kakarot teased back.

His mother laughed too; their voices held the same cadence. “Oh Kaka, I’m happy it worked out for you. I know your father is…” Her smile dimmed and she trailed off for a second, before regaining her spunk. “But don’t worry about him. He’ll come around eventually.” She assured. “Now I’ll leave you boys alone. I’m happy you called with the news, and to get all those rumors cleared up. I swear things get blown out of proportions to a truly ridicules degree. When your father foretold the end of our planet at Frieza’s hand, there were some saying he had become a super saiyan.” She rolled her eyes. “So don’t pay them any mind. Take care of yourself Kaka, and call me again soon!”

“I will. Bye mom!”

The transmission cut off.

Vegeta took a deep breath. “Kakarot I…“

The beta looked up at him, the shine of mirth in his dark warm brown eyes fading as he got a look at Vegeta’s expression. “Are you okay? Did your work go bad?”

 _‘You could say that’_. Vegeta thought bitterly, but it was hardly the truth. They were at war. Situations like this were to be expected. “Don’t worry about it, I’m just a bit tired is all.” He could tell Kakarot later. Right now he’d appreciate the easy company more than worry or, worse, arguments because Kakarot would want to come along and join the battle despite his current health.

Vegeta unfastened his cape and draped it over the couch before sitting down next to his beta. Kakarot was watching him, those dark eyes seeing much more than the man let on. “You want some tea?” Kakarot asked, voice still easy.

“Yes.” Vegeta said. “Thank you.” He remembered to add on. It was a long time since he’d had the need to show good manners or gratefulness to anyone. Even their allies were treated as he saw fit. Vegeta didn’t mollycoddle anyone; if they couldn’t take the heat they could get out. Their army would be better off without them in that case anyway.

Kakarot hummed as he made them both a mug, swaying lightly to some strange tune. It was nothing Vegeta could recognize, too alien to sound pretty to his ears, even if Kakarot had a nice voice. “I put some honey in.” Kakarot informed him as he handed Vegeta the tea. “Well, it smelled like honey. And Tarble thought it sounded similar to what I know from Earth anyway.”

Vegeta accepted the mug and took a drink. The warm liquid hit his belly in a strange way. Vegeta had eaten during work, of course, but he still felt strangely empty; drained. He was not usually like this before a large battle. Normally he would already be simmering with bloodlust. But of course this was different. For the first time in over ten years, Vegeta might come face to face with the tyrant. He doubted it, but there was a chance. “What did you do today?” Vegeta asked to distract himself from his thoughts.

Kakarot leaned back easily beside him. “Hmm, not too much. Tarble taught me, then Raditz came by real quick during lunch. He can come up here now! At least if I inform the guards about it first. I played some Daam with both of them and watched them play too, Raditz’ sorta bad at it; he gets overconfident and loses. Tarble’s pretty good though, a bit too overly cautious, but it worked against Raditz.”

“How many games did you watch?”

“Just one.”

Vegeta was surprised. Being able to tell from just that the two other saiyans’ biggest setbacks in battle was no mean feat. “Did you win?”

Kakarot smiled. “Against Raditz yea, but I think it helped that I know him pretty well. Tarble knows a lot more moves than me, even in the simplified version, and I wasn’t fast enough to outsmart him, though I did get a lot of his pieces. He ended it by getting my general though.” Kakarot added the last part a bit sulkily, and Vegeta chuckled. He already knew the beta didn’t easily admit defeat, so ending it with pieces had been a smart move from Tarble’s side.

Vegeta chuckled. “Did you do anything else?”

Kakarot shook his head. “I just ate some, and talked to my mom. The cleaning came by earlier, but I just took a nap while they were here. The guards were inside the entire time too.”

“Hnn.” Vegeta finished his tea and put the empty mug on the table. Of course he’d made sure the guards would be there when he had people milling around Kakarot in his quarters. The beta was too naïve to stay on constant guard for attack, and you never knew who might be feeling opportunistic. For gods sakes, he’d been taking a fucking nap while strangers were walking all around him. Vegeta questioned his survival instincts, he really did. “And you actually managed to sleep with them around?” Vegeta asked, a bit of anger creeping through. Falling asleep around other people than Vegeta so easily…

“No,” The beta shook his head and pointed towards Vegeta’s bedroom. “I used your bed. It’s comfier than the couch and they didn’t come in there.”

“Oh.” Well then… Vegeta felt himself loosening up. Seemed like Kakarot wasn’t such a lost cause after all. But speaking of which. “Come lie down with me.” He said as he got up and walked into the bedroom. He heard Kakarot pause, but then follow him cautiously. Vegeta pulled his armor, top and gloves off, and put his scouter on his bedside table within easy reach, before flopping backwards unto the bed. He patted the space next to himself. “Come here.” He repeated.

Kakarot joined him carefully. “What are we doing?” The younger saiyan asked.

“Just napping.” Vegeta told him, for once genuinely not aiming for anything but that. He felt Kakarot lie down beside him, but still too far away, so he reached over and pulled the beta to his side.

The younger man came easily enough, and rested his head near Vegeta’s shoulder. “Isn’t it a bit late to be napping?”

Vegeta had already closed his eyes. “I have more work after this.” Which was true. He’d probably be up most of the night, going over patterns of attack and defense and getting progress reports on… Everything, basically.

Kakarot laid his arm across Vegeta’s chest and snuggled closer with a sigh. “Okay then.” He mumbled and settled in. Despite his protest, Kakarot fell asleep before Vegeta, still easily tired because of his illness, and the prince listened to the beta’s even breathing as he dosed, thoughts flitting about as they did in that half-asleep state. But eventually he must have fallen fully asleep too, as his scouter seemed to have been beeping for a while before it woke him. Vegeta squinted at the offending device, but couldn’t reach for it to turn it off, seeing as Kakarot had seen fit to wrap himself completely around Vegeta, essentially using the prince as a body pillow. Vegeta lay still and felt the beta breathe against his neck for a while. He felt the stirring of desire to roll over and take their nap in other directions, waking the beta up in more ways than one… But he didn’t have the time, and it was too soon anyway. Vegeta was quite sure, that for all that Kakarot seemed okay with cuddling up with him after agreeing to courtship, the beta would bolt if Vegeta tried to take it any further.

Slowly he extracted himself and reached for the scouter, muting it until he was back in the sitting room. As expected he was bombarded with calls, and Vegeta rerouted quite a few of the less important ones before he told them his ETA and turned the coms off.

He walked back into the bedroom and carefully made his way back to Kakarot’s side. Vegeta ran his hand through the younger saiyan’s hair until he woke up.

“Hnh… Geta?”

There was that nickname again. “I have to go back to work.”

“Mhp… No.” Kakarot grabbed the arm of the hand Vegeta had been running through his hair and dragged it close, keeping it captive and curling himself around it. An endearing sight but… “I have to.” Vegeta said, getting his arm back easily from the sleepy beta. “Stay here for the night if you want, it should be fine, seeing as I probably won’t be back before morning.” The gossipers couldn’t exactly accuse Vegeta of being two places at once, and he’d be pretty damn visible while working on the bridge, so the beta would have nothing to worry about in that regard.

“That sucks.” Kakarot mumbled, but whether he was talking about Vegeta’s absence from the rooms and bed, or the fact that Vegeta would be getting no more sleep, was unclear, and Kakarot was already nodding off again.

“I’ll see you for breakfast.” Vegeta promised, before drawing away. On his way out he told a guard to send a message and inform Raditz of where his brother was, Vegeta couldn’t be bothered to do it himself. He’d have to get on top of things tonight, and then make the best of his remaining time with Kakarot tomorrow.

He only hoped that the beta wouldn’t put up too much of a fuss.

xXx

               

For the second time in just as many days Goku woke up in Vegeta’s bed, but this time the prince was nowhere in sight. Goku had to spool back his memories until he recalled why. Vegeta was working, and something was bothering him, that much had been clear from his behavior yesterday. Goku hadn’t pushed at the time, but he was curious.

Yawning he went through his morning routine and also borrowed Vegeta’s bath. It was a giant white marble thing with a shower so complicated that it frankly scared Goku a little. It had so many add-ons that it looked like an inverted robot who’d come alive and try to eat him. Goku kept to the basic functions, happy that he could read thing like ‘hot, cold and pressure’ by now.

He’d figured that he would have to raid Vegeta’s closet again, but in the living room he found his own gi like garments, washed and folded. Goku pulled them on with a pleased grin and patted them down when he was done. He briefly contemplated going to find Raditz, but then remembered that he’d stayed in Vegeta’s rooms again despite his brother expressively telling him not to, so that idea got scrapped. It was just past 7 anyway, so Vegeta would probably be back soon. Feeling properly hungry for the first time in a while, and actually energized too, Goku hesitated though. Vegeta might be working late, and Goku was hungry now, so… Maybe it’d be okay if he took a little walk?

Mind made up he went over to the doors and stuck his head out, only to meep when two elite guards immediately turned to look at him. “Can we be of service, sir?” One asked.

Goku blinked. He’d totally forgotten about them and the fact that he wasn’t supposed to run around on his own right now; even Raditz had agreed with that. But if he brought them along, then he technically wasn’t breaking any rules. “I’m just going to get something to eat… So I guess you guys are coming along?” Goku wasn’t sure what orders they had gotten from Vegeta, but true to form the men saluted in the saiyan way; hand fisted across their heart, and fell into step with him once Goku started walking.

Entering the cafeteria with two guards shadowing him and dressed in strange clothes turned out to be more than a little awkward, especially with the hush that fell over the room as soon as he walked in. Goku cast a glance around nervously, but tried to hide how uncomfortable he suddenly felt. He chose to focus on the counter where he’d order, and went to get some food.

Once he was handed his tray though, Goku faced another dilemma. Where should he sit? He could eat alone, but he was frankly bored and longing for some company other than Vegeta and Tarble. He looked around, trying not to meet too many eyes, until he found his new team sitting towards the back corner. Goku tightened his grip on his tray. They hadn’t seemed very welcoming of him so far, but these were people he would have to work with, so…

Goku walked over and sat down at their table. “Hi!” He said jovially, hoping to break the ice.

The four others stared back at him, exchanged glances and then they all smirked or sniggered, aside from Maze. Sorrel looked at him again. “Surprised to see you here and not in the prince’s chambers.” She said. “Vegeta not keeping you _busy_ enough?” 

Goku shrugged. “I felt like it.” He said, ignoring her tone.

Korabi eyed him shrewdly. “So how’re you feelin?” He asked.

Goku hesitated with his spoon halfway to his mouth. “Uh—Better? I’m not so nauseous anymore…” He wondered how they’d known about him being ill, then remembered them witnessing the aftermath of Zorn’s attack.

“Your baby daddy’s not letting you alone anywhere though, huh?” Pean noted, tilting his head towards the guards. “I wondered about that by the way. I mean, it’s not like you’re mated, so you’re what, a concubine or something? What’ll that make your kid?”

“A bastard?” Korabi suggested.

Goku narrowed his eyes. His tail fur bristled at the thought of any potential child of his being spoken off like that, and something in Pean’s tone also suggested that being a concubine was not something to be proud of. “I’m not pregnant, and no, I’m not mated either. We’re only courting.” He put his spoon back down and took a drink of his tea instead, hand shaking faintly from anger. He calmed himself back down with a deep breath. “Vegeta said he wants us to mate, so I guess our kids would be royals too.” He couldn’t help adding a bit snappishly, unsure of where the instinct to defend like that came from.

“Huh.” Pean said. The team exchanged glances, Maze once again excluded. “What’s all the fuss about then?”

Goku sighed. “Nothing. I’m just a bit sick and Vegeta is over-reacting.”

The others boggled at the idea of Vegeta showing concern for anyone, but Sorrel licked her lips and fixed her eyes on Goku’s anyway. “Sounds like you’ve got him just where you want him.” Her eyes glinted. “Must be practical.” She leaned back. “Why I’m sure he’d do you and your friends all sorts of favors. Like getting better missions, or more pay…” She tilted her head, smirking. “Were friends, right Kakarot?”

Goku blinked. “I don’t think so, no.” He stated plainly and took another draw of tea.

Sorrel’s eyes widened “Why you li—“ She hissed, but Pean grabbed her and put a hand over her mouth before she could jump the table and get in Goku’s face.

“And that’s totally our fault.” Pean said in a placating voice, holding a still hissing Sorrel. “Sorry about the hazing, it’s just after the whole thing with Zorn…” He shrugged, smile apologetic. “He was our leader you know? I mean, Maze is team captain but Zorn is the commander of our section, so.”

Goku drew back and rubbed a hand down his neck. He hadn’t considered that. “Yea… I didn’t make him attack me though.” He thought back on it. “Is he still okay? I wasn’t sure if Vegeta were gonna do something after all.”

“Seems like.” Pean said with a shrug. “He’s under observation though.” He finally let go of Sorrel who drew away with a growl.

“Fuck off with your ‘hazing’ Pean! If he thinks he’s too good for us then I ain’t playing buddy buddy with him.” She turned a glare on Goku. “What are you even doing here? It’s not like you need to work, just spread your legs—“

“That’s _enough_ , Sorrel.” Maze said, finally speaking up. The giant man put his sandwich down and fixed a cool glare on his subordinates. “You too Korabi. Think what you want, but keep your mouths shut. You’re walking a thin line to treason, and getting another new team member after your heads come off will be a pain.”

This seemed to quiet Sorrel down and she lowered her gaze and started stabbing her food rather violently, now completely ignoring Goku.

“You going to tattle?” Korabi spoke up again, harried and eyes wide, watching the by now hunched Goku attentively.

Goku had lost his appetite and kind of regretted coming here, but didn’t want his relationship with his team to stay like this. He wouldn’t be able to stand that. Gathering his thoughts he raised his head and looked at all of them, expression serious. “I just wanna make some things clear. I’m not gonna tattle just because you say something stupid. I can fight my own battles; I don’t need Vegeta to do it. Also, I don’t think I’m ‘too good’ for you or whatever, and finally, of course I’m going to fight!” His eyes flashed at the last bit. “I’ve got family on Planet too you know! I’m not gonna sit around and let Frieza do whatever he pleases. I’m going to fight him!” He ended his speech by slamming his fist into the table.

The three other men stared back at him, and even Sorrel seemed subdued.

Maze nodded approvingly. “Well, it’s good to hear that you’re not just some token member planning on hiding behind us. Frankly that was my first thought when I heard who we’d be getting.” He ran his eyes over Goku. “I haven’t seen you fight, but your power level is actually above mine, so you’ve got some promise at least.” He turned his attention back to his sandwich then. “Get yourself better and we’ll see what you’re made of I guess.” If Vegeta didn’t take him off their team before then Maze thought, but didn’t add. He doubted that Vegeta would let his intended run around like a common soldier for much longer.

Goku felt a small smile pull on his face. “I will! Thank you. I-I guess I’m looking forward to working with you.” Not so much the other three, but it was a start.

Maze nodded but continued eating without looking back.

Other people in the cafeteria had been listening in on the conversation of course, which had made the surrounding noise lower, but even so an even more audible hush fell over the room when the doors hissed open and Vegeta stalked in, tail fur bristled and eyes fixed on Goku.

He cut a straight line towards the beta, but seemed a tiny bit mollified by the sight of the guards. “What are you doing here?” He still asked with a faint growl in his tone when he reached Goku side, immediately putting a hand on the beta’s shoulder and turning the younger man towards him. “I told you to wait for me.”

Goku blinked up at him. “You told me you’d see me at breakfast, but I didn’t know when you meant, and I was hungry.” He excused himself. He had also been bored, but that wasn’t relevant to mention he figured.

Vegeta briefly closed his eyes, still pissed that his beta hadn’t been in the room when he came back. “Then you could have called something from the kitchens to be delivered. There was no reason to come _here_.” He gestured around with a sneer.

Goku watched Vegeta’s face carefully. The alpha looked a little pallid, and his eyes had dark circles. “Are you okay?” He asked with a head tilt, changing the subject. “You didn’t really work all night, did you?”

Vegeta paused, surprised by Goku’s concerned question and the observant gaze the beta had on him. “I did.” He frowned. “It’s not something you need to worry about.” He tried to brush off. Vegeta wasn’t used to being worried about, it felt… Weird. He couldn’t really describe it other than that, but it threw him off.

Goku turned around completely, grabbing hold of Vegeta’s cape. “Of course I do! Did you eat at least?”

“Some…” Vegeta replied, too unsettled by Goku’s behavior to draw away or think to change the subject.

Goku picked up some fruit from his plate and held it up to the still standing prince. “Well, have some of mine then. We can go back but it’ll take time for the kitchens to bring stuff up.” When the prince didn’t react, he reached up until he practically had the fruit pressed to Vegeta’s lips. “I really like this one, it gives you a lot of energy.” And the taste reminded him of strawberries.

Vegeta rebooted his brain, then bent forward a bit and snatched the fruit with his mouth, licking Goku’s fingers briefly before drawing back. He was both surprised and pleased by the beta’s daring. Vegeta realized that it was probably more a result of the other saiyan being Earth raised and unaware of the connotations of what he was doing, but that wouldn’t make a difference in how it came across to their audience. Normally only mates who were deeply tied emotionally, or in heat, hand fed each other. Especially a beta sharing food, and Vegeta’s willingness to accept it… It left no doubt about their connection, and was therefore quite a statement. In Earth terms Goku might as well have thrown himself on the table, bared his neck, pulled Vegeta into a kiss and then screamed ‘I belong to this one! He’s strong, so I’ve chosen him!’. Vegeta didn’t mind at all. It was a honor to have a beta recognize you so publicly.

Completely unaware that he was feeding Vegeta’s alpha ego as much as his stomach Goku picked and held up another piece of fruit. Vegeta took that too but then drew the beta up. “Let’s continue this later.” He rumbled, loud enough for other’s to hear, but low enough to sound like it was unintentional.

Goku hummed. “Okay. You’ll need more than fruit anyway.”

Vegeta licked his lips and grinned. “Well if you insist.”

Goku gave him a bit of side-eye at the purring tone, but got up and let himself be led out with a hand on his back nonetheless. He waved absently to his teammates who sat behind, frozen in a mix of shock and fear, none of them having expected Vegeta to show up.

Pean felt himself shaking down to his tail. “We’re all gonna die. Vegeta’s going to find out what we said to Kakarot, and then we’re all going to _die._ ”

Sorrel was too freaked out to reply, but mentally agreed.

“Vegeta is _not_ fucking around.” Korabi stated. “Holy shit.”

Maze glared at his team. “You lot have better hope that Kakarot stays in a lenient mood, otherwise you’ll be done for. Zorn’s position was all that saved _him_ , and you don’t have that.”

Sorrel finally found her voice. “I-I still kinda thought Vegeta was just—just passing time with him. Not…!” She gestured at where the couple had just been. If a beta had made moves like that on an alpha not serious about them, it would have ended in blood. The fact that Vegeta had welcomed it… “How are they not mated yet?!” She screeched.

Pean shook his head, eyes still wide. “No clue, but Kakarot has serious balls to make a statement like that. No one’s gonna think he’s just a plaything after this, not anymore.”

There were general noises of still shocked agreement around the table.

“You really think Kakarot’s gonna have us killed?” Korabi asked, licking sweat of his upper lip. He’d taken the beta for kind of naïve, but maybe it had been a front. Maybe Kakarot was actually coldly calculating, using innocence as a cover to weed out enemies.

Pean shook his head. “At this point? Who the fuck knows.”

 

xXx

 

Goku giggled as Vegeta pushed him on the couch and followed him down, the alpha’s hands accidently tickling his sides. “Vegeta!” He admonished playfully. Vegeta growled into his neck, tone pleased. Something had gotten into the prince back at the cafeteria, and Goku wondered about it. “Hey, what’s up with you?” He asked, pulling on Vegeta’s neckline to make him draw back.

Vegeta looked down on him. “You have zero idea what you just did, but you may just have fixed some of our problems.” He told Goku, eyes dark and glinting, smirk fully engaged. It may also have created others, but no one would be able to say that Vegeta wasn’t taking the beta seriously anymore, and at the same time Kakarot had unwittingly made it clear that he considered himself Vegeta’s equal, which Vegeta had confirmed by eating the offering. It was such a small gesture, yet it held exactly those undertones. Submission but regard. Power but trust. Vegeta simply hadn’t thought of it, because in his mind it was firmly categorized under ‘intimate gestures’, and Kakarot considered a fucking cheek nuzzle as stretching it.

Goku looked up at him in puzzlement. “That’s good?” He said, unsure what he could have possibly done. Was it the food sharing? Tarble had mentioned something like that, but Goku had sort of forgotten.

“Mmmh.” Vegeta agreed and pressed his face into the beta’s neck again. He wanted to bite him, nibble on him just a little, but held himself back. Kakarot had pressed buttons Vegeta had only been faintly aware of wanting pressed, but the beta didn’t know, so he’d have to reign himself in.

Goku patted Vegeta’s back awkwardly, a bit lost for what else to do. He didn’t mind the other man covering him; it reminded him a bit of wrestling around with Krillin as a kid, only to fall asleep in the sunshine. Puppy pile, Launch had called it with a giggle and usually given them ice cream upon waking up. With Vegeta it felt different though, and Goku was slowly growing more and more aware of it. “Uhm… Could you let me up?” Goku tried.

“Why?” Vegeta mumbled, the arms he had around Goku’s back drawing the beta even closer; challenging.

Goku cast around for an excuse. “Food? I haven’t eaten much yet… Neither have you.”

Vegeta grunted, and took another moment to get up. Some things may not be working out for him, but at least this had been a nice start to the morning. He called the kitchens quickly, wanting to get back to Goku before the other saiyan could put up too many barriers, but by the time he was done the beta had already placed himself behind a readied board of Daam. Wise move to make distance, but it didn’t seem calculated, so probably instinctual. Kakarot’s instincts were generally strong and quite prone to get in the way of Vegeta’s plans, even if the younger man himself was often too naïve to parse what they meant before simply acting on them. Of course there were other times when Kakarot’s ignorance was very much in Vegeta’s favor.  

Vegeta sat down on the other side of the board with a shrewd gaze on his opponent. “Sure you wouldn’t rather be doing something else?” He tried a final time.

Goku tilted his head. “Like what?”

Vegeta sighed deeply. “Never mind.” He turned the board. “I’m playing attack this time.”

They played until the food came, ate, then finished their game. Vegeta’s excitement got a chance to simmer out during that time, and Goku still remained none the wiser, but seemed pleased that Vegeta had calmed down.

Vegeta watched the beta setting up for another game. “I thought I’d take you somewhere today.” He mentioned. He still needed to tell Kakarot that he was leaving, but he figured this would soften the blow.

Goku looked up. “Oh? Oh yea, you said that!” He remembered Vegeta speaking off it before they went to the baths.

“Mm. Let’s go.” Vegeta said, standing up. There was no reason, or time, to dally around. He had to leave at noon, and that was just a couple of hours away. Goku got up and followed easily, curious where Vegeta would take him. He’d still only seen a tiny fraction of Base One.

Once again they transversed several long corridors and took elevators going down, but Goku was too excited to mind. He practically skipped next to Vegeta and had to fumble to a halt when the prince suddenly stopped in a long hallway which didn’t look much different from the rest.

Vegeta squinted at the sign next to the door. “Hm, here.” He said and opened it.

They both entered into some sort of front room which was white and bare. Goku looked around with a small frown, then looked questioningly at Vegeta.

“It’s a pressure chamber. The gravity inside is different, so we’re waiting for it to even out.” The prince explained.

Sure enough, as Vegeta explained Goku felt his ears pop, it was the usual sensation he got when he used the training gravity rooms too. Goku rolled his shoulders and shook out his legs under the new gravity’s pressure. It was familiar.

“Hey, isn’t this…”

Vegeta smirked. “You’ll see.” He promised as he opened the inner door and took Goku’s hand to lead him inside.

Goku was met by near blinding red sunlight, and had to squint. A gentle wind swept across his face and slowly he got used to the light, until he could finally look around. What he saw made him boggle. “Wh-what?! Are we outside?”

Vegeta grinned, eyes glinting and gestured for the seemingly vast stretch of nature around them. “Welcome to planet Vegeta… Is what I’d like to say, but this is actually just a simulated room mimicking the nature of our planet. The rocks and plants are all real enough, but the sky you see is nothing but a projection and the sun and wind are artificially made too.”

Goku took several steps forward and looked around. Above them the sky was a warm orange etched with red clouds, like sunset on Earth, and below them the earth and rocks reflected the same colors, just with more brown. It was hot, and surprisingly humid. Yellow grasses covered a clearing to their right, and around it was a thicket of trees which reminded Goku of how the leaf trees of Earth looked during autumn. Some had deeper more purpleish hues though, like copper beech. Sturdy looking flowers grew amongst the rocks, or crawled over them with vines, all in a riot of colors. Goku ran his hand lightly over a cluster next to him and drew in the almost spicy scent they released.

“What do you think?” Vegeta asked, breaking Goku out of his observations.

Goku turned around and smiled. “It’s beautiful. There’s a lot more plants than I thought there’d be. My dad said Planet Vegeta was pretty desert like.”

Vegeta started pulling him towards the clearing with the soft yellow grasses. “It is, in many places, but no one saw any reason to build a room simulating that.” He drew Goku down until they could both sprawl on the grass, though Vegeta remained sitting while Goku lay down on his back and stretched. “There are places like this too, especially around the mountains. We have jungles too.”

“Huh.” Goku mumbled, blinking up at the rusty sky.

Vegeta watched the beta bathed in the red-tinted sunlight of their home planet, and found he couldn’t pull his eyes away. Stretched out on the ground and looking completely defenseless, Kakarot was like a buffet Vegeta wasn’t allowed to eat yet. He clenched his fists. He had to be patient, but once he finally claimed the beta, Vegeta would take out all this frustration on his sweet ass.

“So this is like a park, right?” Goku wondered out loud.

Vegeta suppressed his thoughts of pulling off the beta’s clothes and watching the younger’s muscles roll underneath pale skin as Vegeta pounded into him. “Uh—Yes. Essentially.” He cleared his throat. Maybe it’d be good for him to go into battle for a while. Vegeta wasn’t sure how much more of this he could stand. It was the fourth day since Kakarot had been told to rest, and already the beta was looking much better, his cheeks pleasingly flushed with life and energy once again. “There are more rooms like this, simulating the environment of other planets. It’s meant to calm you down when you can’t go planet side for a long time.” He explained. Soldiers who’d gone mental from being cooped up for too long weren’t generally much use.

Goku lifted up unto his elbows and looked around again. “It looks pretty real. The sky makes me think I could just start flying.”

Vegeta chuckled. “Neither you or the wall you’d smack into would appreciate that.” He moved closer and leaned over the beta, putting one arm on either side of Kakarot.

“Vegeta?” Goku asked, looking up questioningly and locking eyes with the prince.

Vegeta leaned down on one elbow, steadying himself and bringing himself closer to the beta, as he brought up his other hand and stroked it down Goku’s cheek. “I want to kiss you.” Vegeta informed him, figuring directness might work better, seeing as Goku easily slipped around insinuations.

Goku widened his eyes. “Uhhh…”

“Would you hate it?” Vegeta wondered out loud, settling his voice into a purr. “I won’t push you.” He assured, while very much wanting to push, but knowing the futility of it.

“I-I don’t think I’d _hate_ it, but…” Goku stuttered. He’d had thoughts about Vegeta, especially during his heat, but he wasn’t that sure about actually acting on any of them, yet now Vegeta was asking him to. Goku still remembered feeling trapped in and covered by Turles; not a completely bad experience, except from how it had escalated too quickly.

Goku licked his suddenly dry lips. “Just… Just kissing, right?” He asked to make sure.

Vegeta grinned crookedly. “Just kissing.” He assured, then dove down to claim Goku’s lips before the beta could reconsider.

Goku closed his eyes when he felt Vegeta’s lips cover his. He expected for Vegeta to try and pry his mouth open, but the kiss stayed languid, with their lips simply gliding and slicking between each other for a long while. Goku’s hands found their way to Vegeta’s hair, and settled in it, pulling the older man closer. In the end it was Goku who opened his own mouth, deepening the kiss as he felt Vegeta’s body draw nearer and settle between his legs, their chests now flush.

Vegeta rumbled deep in his chest as he felt Goku opening up to him. He teased the beta for a bit, only dipping his tongue in ever so briefly as the beta was slowly driven to pushing for more and more. Then, as the younger saiyan finally lost himself and let go of his restrains, drawing Vegeta closer, Vegeta buried a hand in Goku’s hair, tilted his head, and _took over._  

Their tongues engaged, and Vegeta used the hand not burrowed in the beta’s hair to grab under Goku’s one knee and lift his leg up to settle around Vegeta’s hips, allowing them to grind against each other. Vegeta was pleased when the beta didn’t pull away, but simply ground back with a smothered moan.

They lost time like this, mouths slicking and bodies rolling against each other’s, until Vegeta forced himself to draw back or he’d risk losing control. Kakarot’s mouth chased his briefly, before the beta allowed his head to fall back against the ground.

Goku opened his bleary eyes. “Why’d you stop?” He mumbled, lips swollen and tingling.

Vegeta lifted an eyebrow at him. “You said just kissing.” He reminded. “This isn’t going to stay ‘just kissing’ for much longer.” Not that Vegeta would mind that at all, but he couldn’t afford to break Kakarot’s trust by vaulting over set boundaries at this point.

Goku closed his eyes and groaned, some unnamed, unknown frustration running through his body. “Just’a little more.” He begged, unsure what he was even asking for.

Vegeta leered, unseen by Goku who had his eyes closed and face scrunched up in frustration. Served the beta right, he thought. “A little more it is.” Vegeta growled, and then dove back down. This time he didn’t aim for Goku’s mouth though, but instead pulled aside the beta’s strange loose clothes and started laying soft kisses against his bared neck. Goku stiffened up briefly, but Vegeta soothed him with a reassuring rumble and started licking against his skin, no teeth in sight. Slowly the beta’s muscles relaxed again, and he started panting lightly as Vegeta added suction to his machinations against his neck.

Hands still burrowed in Vegeta’s hair, Goku arched his back and pulled the alpha’s head closer, more firmly against his body and neck. Vegeta responded with a growl and finally nipped against the sensitive skin beneath his mouth, causing Goku to shudder. “N-no b-b-biting…” Goku ground out.

“Just a little.” Vegeta growled, and clamped his teeth lightly around the beta’s upper trapezius muscle, before then adding suction.

Goku moaned and arched his back again, as Vegeta proceeded to maul his neck as much as he could without actually biting. “Ah! Ahhahh…”

With a final nipple Vegeta pulled back and admired his work. An already darkening bruise stood out clearly against Goku’s peachy skin. Vegeta smirked.

Goku blinked his eyes open and looked up, seeing Vegeta admiring his neck for some reason. Goku was hard in his pants, and his heart was thumping, blood rushing and instincts demanding more, but personally Goku thought he’d better put a stop to this now, while he still had the faculties to do so, and slowly he started pulling away from Vegeta. The alpha watched him, eyes predatory, but didn’t say anything and let him go without a fuss.

Goku sat up and brought a shaking hand up to his neck, feeling the tingling soreness there. It didn’t hurt exactly, it felt… Strangely good. Everything they’d just done had felt strangely good, and though Goku was pretty sure his face resembled a flushed tomato, he didn’t regret it.

Vegeta watched his beta gathering himself and poking at the mark Vegeta had given him. Vegeta would have enjoyed taking this further, much further, but all good things came to those who waited. He’d kissed Kakarot with the same words in mind, and had been rewarded for holding back on and teasing the beta, the younger man being the one to lose patience and escalating their makeout.

“You look beautiful covered in my marks.”

Vegeta’s words caused Goku to jump and finally brought him out of his pleasured daze. He turned wide-eyed to watch the alpha. “Uhm…” What did he say to that? Thank you seemed weird.

Vegeta sighed as he felt the tension surrounding them dissipating, and rolled over until he could sit down next to the beta instead. He chose not to make any other mention of what they had just done, lest he unnerve the younger saiyan. Vegeta rested his elbow on one knee, and his chin in his palm, as he looked out across the landscape gently swaying in the artificial wind. “I needed to tell you something.” He finally informed Kakarot, knowing that time was running out.

Goku turned slightly to better watch Vegeta. “What is it?” He asked, noticing the change in mood.

Vegeta sighed again and briefly closed his eyes. “I had hoped to stay with you for another couple of days, at least until you were cleared for action, but duty calls.” He looked at Goku. “Frieza’s forces are attacking an important trade point in our alliance, and the forces stationed there won’t be enough to deal with the enemies who’s already landed on the planet, much less all of those to come.” Vegeta straightened up and leaned back on his hands. “So I’ll have to go and deal with that.” He finished. He’d left out quite a bit but… Well, Kakarot didn’t need to know. Just as Vegeta had thought that though—

“Is Frieza there?”

Vegeta bit his tongue. How was it that the beta always knew just what not to ask? “Probably not.” Vegeta relented. There was about a fifty/fifty chance, and if Frieza _was_ there it could mean a decisive battle. Vegeta hoped not though; he wasn’t as delusional as to think he could win against the demon face to face quite yet.

Goku frowned and pulled his one leg up to his chest. “When are you leaving?”

“In less than an hour.” Vegeta admitted.

Goku bit his lip and looked down. He wanted to go too. As if sensing this, Vegeta spoke up again. “You’re not going anywhere in your current state. Even if Frieza isn’t there himself, some of his elite will be, and you’ve admitted to me that you can’t even utilize half your powers yet.”

Goku cursed himself for that, but glared at Vegeta nonetheless. “I could still help.”

“You’re staying.” Vegeta informed him.

Goku growled. “What’s the idea with me even being here if I can’t fight?!” Locked up on Check point 8 for two months, locked up during his heat, locked up here because of his health. When would it end?

Vegeta’s features grew sterner. “The idea is to make sure you don’t _die_ by biting off more than you can chew.” He fixed Goku with a look. “You want to fight? Fine. Get better. Train. No one’s stopping you after that.”

Goku narrowed his eyes. “You better promise me that.” He wouldn’t put it past Vegeta to somehow keep him out of the thick of it. Goku didn’t understand the reasoning behind it, but the prince seemed to suffer under the delusion that Goku couldn’t take care of himself.

Vegeta sneered and looked away. He wasn’t exactly crazy about the idea of having someone who Vegeta realized was quickly becoming a weak spot running around in reach of Frieza and his goons, yet Kakarot was right. The younger man was a warrior too, and Vegeta would be stupid not to utilize him. “Fine. As long as you’re physically fit, I won’t stop you.” He could stop Kakarot’s team from being anywhere where the beta’s presence would distract Vegeta though, but he didn’t mention this.

Goku perked up at the promise. “Good. I’m gonna train as soon as I’m better, and then I’m gonna join you.”

Vegeta snorted. “You mean you’ll wait for your orders and go wherever you’re told to. We might be courting, but aside from being part of the A team, you’re still a common soldier. You have no rank to throw around in military matters.”

“I know that.” Goku grumbled, but privately thought that he didn’t really care. He’d find a way to fight the strongest opponents he could somehow, lacking knowledge of flying a spacecraft or not.

Vegeta stood up, relieved that their talk had gone better than he’d dared hope for. He held out a hand to Goku who took it and allowed himself to be pulled up. “Just be patient. The fighting might be over before you’re even well again.” Vegeta told him as they started towards the exit.

“I already feel a lot better.” Goku argued. It was already several days since he’d arrived on the base, and he hadn’t overexerted himself during that time.

“It’ll be up for the doctor to decide.” Vegeta said, and turned his head to watch him. “Are you walking with me to the hangers?”

Goku shrugged. He didn’t have anything else to do. “Sure.”

Vegeta smiled, and pulled the beta closer, until their shoulders were brushing. “I’ll make some guards lead you back. You should probably stay close to Raditz for at least a couple of days; you’re still not supposed to be alone.”

“Fine.” Goku mumbled. He felt pretty glum that Vegeta was leaving for some reason, but couldn’t really parse the feeling. It wasn’t familiar to him, like so many of the things he felt around the other saiyan.

Vegeta smirked. “Don’t be sad. I’ll be back almost before you can miss me.” He teased.

Goku drew back. “I’m not _sad_.” He argued. Why would he be sad?

“Hmm? Sure.” Vegeta chuckled.

They reached the hanger where a giant ship was being made ready and waiting for departure. People were milling around, technicians and dock workers grumbling at the soldiers who were hanging about and wasting time before they had to go on board. People watched curiously as Vegeta and Goku drew near, but made no moves towards them. The highest A team members were familiar with the crown prince’s temper.

When they were almost at the ship’s ramp Vegeta twirled around and drew Goku to him. He tilted the beta’s face with a hand on his cheek and kissed him before the younger man had the sense to protest.

Goku stiffened up briefly, caught by surprise, but then closed his eyes and let Vegeta kiss him. They had already done this, so there was no reason to stop him. It wasn’t deep or drawn out like the kisses they had shared in the nature room, but it felt nice nonetheless.

Vegeta pulled back and fixed Goku with a stern gaze. “Behave.” He told him. “If you do something stupid while I’m away, I’ll hear about it, and I’ll have a lot of time to think up a punishment.”

Goku made a face. “I’m not that bad.” He argued.

Vegeta hummed disbelievingly. He might not have known the beta for that long, but the impulsive part of Kakarot’s personality wasn’t particularly hard to figure out. Couple that with Kakarot’s disregard for authority and it could easily get messy. “We’ll see.” He mumbled, and kissed the beta again.

They might have gotten a bit caught up, because suddenly someone cleared their throat next to them. “Ahem… Uhm. I’m sorry to interrupt prince Vegeta, but the ship is ready to leave.”

Vegeta pulled back and drew a thumb across Goku’s swollen lower lip one final time. “I see. Make ready for takeoff then.” He told the man, eyes still on his beta. The soldier hurried to scuttle away.

“I’ll see you.” Vegeta said, before pulling away completely and walking up the ramp. He’d never told anyone goodbye before going on a mission before. He’d never cared to, and it was a new and strange experience.

“Bye…” Goku mumbled, and then watched Vegeta disappear into the ship in silence, feeling suddenly glum again, and probably pouting. He shook his head. What was _wrong_ with him? It was probably the illness. That had to be it. These strange feelings hadn’t started before spending time with Vegeta after seeing the doctor lady, so it made perfect sense.

Satisfied with the explanation Goku turned around to leave, only for a couple of guards to join him within a few steps. Goku glanced back at them, one eyebrow raised.

“Prince Vegeta ordered us to escort you sir.” One informed him respectfully.

“Oh, right.” Damn. Seemed like Vegeta hadn’t forgotten after all. Goku had been hoping for some time alone so he could go and explore the still unknown parts of Base One. Now he’d have to go back to his own or Vegeta’s room to rest instead. Sulking he turned his face forward again. Okay, so he was a bit tired… But it wasn’t _that_ bad.

Not feeling up to walking back to Vegeta’s rooms when the alpha wasn’t there, and having nothing to do in his own, Goku set a course for the nature room again, following the scent trail he and Vegeta had left.

He’d take a nap in the grass; that would probably make these muddled feelings of his go away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kisses. :3 Aka: When you treat making out as a tactical battle.  
> Hope you enjoyed the fluff while it lasted.
> 
> I know I don't respond much, but I love love love you guys comments, and I'll often reread them to hype myself up for writing. So just thank you so much.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who better to discuss matters of the heart with than Cthulhu’s alien cousin?

The guards made motions to follow Goku inside the nature room when they got there, which caused Goku to pause. The guards noticed this and paused too.

“Uhm, sir? Is it okay if we follow you inside? It’s just that… We’re not supposed to leave you unattended.”

Goku tilted his head and expanded his senses. “…The room is empty right now, and I’m going to nap.” He informed them, which both he and they knew meant he wouldn’t want them near. The guards tried to hide it, but Goku noticed how they both slumped a bit at this. No wonder, he realized after a moment, they were both saiyans too, and who knew how often they had a chance to visit the room with their work hours. From what Goku had seen the Base ran at all times, and all saiyans seemed to work a lot, in rotating shifts, but still.

“Say what,” Goku said, motioning for his own scouter-less face, “If one of you can call my brother, then you can both join me when he does. Tarble should probably know where I am too…” Goku was actually dodging study time right now, but whatever. With Vegeta gone he’d have plenty of time for it later.

“Yes, sir!” The guards responded, one of them already making motions to call Raditz with his scouter. Goku chuckled and walked into the room.

Once he’d been decompressed, he walked over to where he and Vegeta had been before, and laid down where their shared scent was strongest. It wasn’t quite as nice as the scent and softness of Vegeta’s bed, but the sunlight, artificial as it may have been, was nice, and Goku soon fell asleep.

xXx

Raditz had been a bit surprised to be given time off in the middle of the day, but even before he’d read the missive explaining why through, he realized that it was probably because of his brother. Not long after he received a call from a guard informing him of Kakarot’s whereabouts, and that Raditz was expected to come find him once he was done with work. Raditz blew some wayward hair out of his face. Well, he needed to have words with the little pest anyway.

Outside the door of the Gardens, Raditz found a pair of guards playing cards, one of which he knew. They snapped to attention when they noticed they were no longer alone, but relaxed once they saw who it was.

“Damnit Raditz, give me a heart attack why don’t you.” Beeto grumbled.

Raditz grinned at his old acquaintance/friend, a saiyan affiliated with both C and D team depending on the occasion. “Not my fault you’re slacking off while guarding my brother. Be careful about that by the way.” He cautioned.

The other guard, who Raditz didn’t know the name of, watched him shrewdly. “Why? Or you’ll tattle to Vegeta?”

Raditz snorted. “No. But Kakarot can be one slippery bastard when he wants to be, and Vegeta probably _will_ kill you if you lose sight of him.”

“Great.” Beeto grumbled, while opening the door so they could all enter the decompression chamber. When they finally entered the Gardens they all immediately spotted Kakarot sleeping peacefully in the grass, snow pale skin and dark hair gleaming under the red sun.

Beeto sighed. “He really is unfairly pretty.”

Raditz made a face, it was his brother after all, but he couldn’t really disagree. “You should have tried courting him when I told you to then. It’s not my fault you fucked up.” Raditz told him.

Beeto glared back. “And get myself murdered by Vegeta or Turles? No thanks. Your brother attracts way too scary suitors.”

“True enough.” Raditz snorted and started walking over to the sleeping beta, leaving the guards near the entrance.

“Kakarot, wake up.” Raditz told him, nudging the younger saiyan with his foot. Kakarot rolled over with a sleepy grumble, shirt riding down and revealing the vivid bruise on the side of his neck. Raditz hissed. “Fucking—“

He bent down and shook his little brother forcibly awake. “Wake the hell up you little shit.” He growled.

Finally Kakarot blinked his eyes open, but just smiled dopily up at him. “Hi Raditz.” He said, then yawned.

Raditz’ face darkened. “Not only do you spend the night with Vegeta, again I might add, now you show up looking mauled.” He motioned for the bruise. “If he’s gonna do that to you, then just let him bite you and get it over with already.” Raditz complained.

Goku sat up and absently rubbed his hand over the mark Vegeta had made on him. “Hmm, maybe.” He mumbled, half asleep. “But he left...” Goku said, and his face dropped as he remembered. He lay back down again and hid his face in the part of the grass which still smelled faintly like Vegeta.

Raditz stared down at his brother. Was he… Was he pining? “Holy fuck, this is priceless.” Raditz chortled, instantly cheered by Goku’s misery. “He left what, an hour ago? And you’re already missing him like a total teenager.”

Goku glared up at him. “I _am_ a teenager.” He retorted.

Raditz sat back down, legs crossed, still grinning at his little brother teasingly. “Oh so you _are_ missing him then?”

Goku flushed. “Shut up, I’m not. That wouldn’t make any sense.” As Raditz had said, Vegeta had only left around an hour ago. On Earth years had passed between Goku seeing his friends, so this was nothing. It should be nothing.  

“You’re in looooove.” Raditz sing-songed, causing Goku to growl and finally jump him. They tussled on the ground for a while, Raditz actually winning for once, something which hadn’t happened in a while, when Goku lost his breath.

Raditz drew back after pinning the younger saiyan with a smirk on his face, but secretly he analyzed his brother’s condition. “Still not tip top I see.”

Goku frowned and scooted away when Raditz released him. He sat up while rubbing his wrists. “I haven’t trained for almost two weeks, so it can’t be helped.” He excused, though he knew Raditz was right, and that he shouldn’t have lost his breath so fast. It was just too frustrating to admit.

“Not unless you count whatever you’ve been doing with Vegeta as _training_.” Raditz nudged him.

Goku rolled his eyes but looked away with a faint blush. “We just kissed…” He mumbled.

Raditz poked his bruise. “You don’t get _that_ from just kissing.”

Goku slapped his hand away, irrationally pissed to have someone else touch the mark Vegeta had left on him. Before Goku could think to reign it in, he snarled at his brother, a feral sound which caused Raditz to draw back with his hands up. Seeing his older brother paling, Goku managed to snap out of it. He shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t know why I…”

Raditz shrugged, mildly discomforted. “Nah, you’re just being territorial. Sorry I poked your mark, I should have known.” Well, not really. Normally only mated betas reacted like that when their mating bite was touched, but Kakarot wasn’t really one to follow convention anyway, and his hormones were supposedly still out of whack.

Goku just frowned and rubbed his hand over the mark. He was having a lot of reactions and feelings which he couldn’t really explain, and it unnerved him. “I think I’m gonna train a bit.” He said, hoping to take his own mind off of it.

Raditz grabbed his wrist as he tried to stand up. “Doctor said you weren’t supposed to, right? Sit your ass back down.”

Goku wriggled free. “She said I could stretch and swim. This isn’t more strenuous than that.” He untied his sash and pulled off his shirt, not wanting to make it too sweaty, then tied the sash back around his hips.

Raditz lifted his eyebrows at his brother’s get up. Kakarot looked like a damn harem dancer dressed like that, with poofy red pants, a black sash around his supple hips, and white skin gleaming under the sun. Raditz would rather drop dead than admit it though. “You’re gonna turn someone snow-blind with all that paleness on display.” He complained instead.

Goku frowned down at him. “It’s not my fault. I haven’t gotten any sun in forever.” He started his stretches.

Raditz pointed up at the artificial one above them. “Well careful you don’t burn then. It’s not as strong as the real thing, but this sun can still tan you.”

“Huh. Well, that’s fine.” Goku noted, stretching his arms above his head and popping his back. As he got ready other people entered the room, speaking briefly with the guards before being shooed off to the side. They could be here, but not near prince Vegeta’s intended. Instead the people slowly steaming in took their lunch amongst the rocks while watching Goku curiously.

Raditz watched them back, and briefly considered making his brother cover up, but Kakarot didn’t seem to care. The beta got into a stance, then slowly glided into the next one, movements fluid and gentle like lapping waves. Raditz watched him with confusion. It almost looked like a dance.

“What are you doing?” He wondered.

Goku continued turning and twisting smoothly. “It’s called tai chi. This is just the basic form, but if I had a staff or a sword…” He somersaulted deftly, easily landing back on his feet. “I could use them too.”

Raditz was taken aback by the gracefulness his brother was displaying. It did look sort of like a slower version of the sword dances he’d seen during festivals in the past. “It looks like you’re dancing.” He stated.

Goku chuckled. “That’s because I’m doing it slowly. If I sped up you’d recognize it as fighting poses.” He lifted his on leg and put a hand to the ground, twisting until he’d made a slow elegant sideways somersault.

Raditz hummed, unsure how the dance routine his brother was doing could be considered fighting, but willing to let the beta keep his delusions. Feeling inspired Raditz moved back a bit so he could catch Kakarot full figure and turned on the recording on his scouter. If Vegeta was going to be his future brother in law, then Raditz was damn well going to tease him, and what better way than to send him a video of Kakarot dancing while Vegeta _wasn’t there_? Sure, Raditz might have a healthy respect/fear of Vegeta, but seeing as Vegeta wanted to stay on Kakarot’s good side, Raditz felt relatively safe.    

Keeping his chuckling at bay, lest it be picked up on the recording, Raditz sat back to watch his brother dance around like some demented but arguably graceful woodland sprite, just as the other occupants in the room seemed to be doing.

At the entrance Beeto sighed again. “That’s just rubbing our noses in it, don’t you think?” He asked, watching Kakarot’s alluring dancing figure.

His partner grunted. “Heard Vegeta introduced him to the baths too, apparently tired him out to the point where he had to be carried back. Unconscious.”

Beeto cursed. “Damn that’s unfair.”

The other guard returned the sentiment.

Goku continued his training oblivious to the reactions he was getting. Sweat had started beading on his forehead, and he had to focus to keep his breathing steady. He’d experimentally raised his ki a bit, but quickly found out that he might not want to press that just yet. So instead he sped up a little, enjoying the push and pull of his muscles and his body working. He’d missed moving.

Time went by, Goku wasn’t sure how much, but suddenly dizziness swept over him and he almost stumbled, only to be caught by a fast moving Raditz and gently led down to sit on the grass. “Tch. Stop before you overexert yourself idiot.”

Goku flumped backwards on the grass while panting. “Yea, sorry, I lost track of time. How long was I at it?”

“Almost two hours.” Raditz frowned. “You should probably eat and drink something.”

Goku nodded tiredly, eyes closed. “Yea. Give me a minute.”

Another voice joined in. “I’ll make the kitchens send stuff to my room. Then you can have your lessons afterwards.”

Goku turned his head, vaguely surprised. “Tarble? When did you get here?”

The other saiyan waved at him with a small smile. “Quite a while ago. You didn’t seem to notice at all though.”

Goku sat up with some difficulty. “Nah. ‘Was concentrating.” His legs felt sore and close to cramping, so he started stretching.

Tarble eyed Goku’s neck in silence. He’d noticed already when he first came in, but that bruise was really vivid. _‘Guess there’s been progress again, good for you, brother.’_ He thought.

Once Goku had finished they all ambled towards Tarble’s quarters where they ate and Goku then studied, though not for long. He’d overexerted himself a bit, and ended up just staggering next door so he could collapse in Vegeta’s bed for the third night in a row. He buried his head in Vegeta’s pillow, where the alpha’s scent was the strongest, with a sniffle and a sigh. As he dozed off, Goku’s last thought was: _‘I wonder when I can join him in battle.’_

xXx

The sounds of blasters shooting off and people screaming could be heard from above as Vegeta rested briefly against a muddy outcropping hiding him from the worst of the mayhem. Suffice to say, things had not gone to plan. The information Vegeta had gotten on Base One had been wrong; in the shadow of the planet’s moon Frieza had had another platoon of ships waiting, and as soon as the saiyan forces had made landing to take care of the minor invading force already on the planet, those lying in wait had struck. There’d been no time for the shield technicians to do their job, and now there was no point, seeing as they’d only be keeping out their own backup.

The saiyans and their allies were heavily outnumbered, and though they had already requested more of the mentioned backup, Vegeta was tired as hell. It wasn’t just grunts Frieza had sent this time, oh no, these guys could pack a punch if you weren’t careful, and there were two members of the fucking Ginyu force present. Vegeta was just _not_ having a good day. Then again…

Growling under his breath Vegeta threw himself back into the fray, immediately blasting the head off of one pirate, and grabbing hold of another’s and twisting until his neck cracked. Vegeta glared at the saiyan ally he’d just happened to save, and who was now staring dumbly up at him. “Pay attention or die.” Vegeta told him mercilessly, then shot off, making his way into the thicket of the battle and killing indiscriminately. His own men would be wise enough to stay clear, and the blasters, though painful, weren’t enough to stop Vegeta from advancing and destroying everyone in his path.

The prince grinned ferally as he came up to a panicked and wildly shooting pirate. Vegeta grabbed the end of his blaster and twisted it up, the metal easily giving way under his strength. “Not your day, is it.” Vegeta asked rhetorically and then gored the pirate with a ki powered fist.

Vegeta ruthlessly shook the intestines and blood off his hand and moved on to his next victim. He knew the two Ginyu force clowns would be looking for him, but what _they_ didn’t know was that Vegeta had learned to manipulate his power output, which he was currently doing, so they wouldn’t be able to get any known reading on him with their scouters, and right now Vegeta was killing their men too fast for them to report his placement.

Vegeta threw another corpse to the side with a battle crazed grin. This was mayhem. This was blood and mud and screams of the dying, and he fucking loved it.

With a ferocious roar he threw himself onto a group of twelve. No one would walk away alive.

xXx

It was nighttime, and though the battle still raged on, Vegeta was taking a breather in a nearby cave where his allies had sat up temporary quarters. Nappa, and his team, who Vegeta had ditched earlier to go off on his own, was glaring at him from the other side of the cavern room. Vegeta ignored them. What good would it do for him to drag around ‘guards’ if they only slowed him down?

With half an ear Vegeta listened to the reports coming in. The two Ginyu force members sounded like Guldo and Recoome, which was really bad, but could still have been even worse. Guldo could be taken care of as long as you managed to evade his bothersome time manipulation ability, but Recoome… He had a power level at around 40 thousand or above, more than double that of Vegeta, which meant he would have to go Oozaru to have any chance of defeating the mercenary most likely sent for _him_.

There was a reason Nappa looked stressed.

“Sounds bad out there, doesn’t it?” A tentacled alien ally asked Vegeta suddenly as he… Or she, it was hard to tell with someone who was basically a lot of tentacles and bad evolutionary decisions bundled up into one being, handed Vegeta a mug of something hot.

“Keh. If someone gets themselves killed it just means that was as far as they were meant to go.” Vegeta responded and took a draw from the mug. The heat from the warm liquid travelled through him and warmed his cold extremities. Vegeta flexed his fingers thoughtfully, his gloves had been lost causes long ago, and now he had blood stuck under his nails.

The tentacle alien sat down beside him with a sigh, and Vegeta now recognized it as a diplomat from this planet, though the name escaped him. “Please don’t say that prince. We all have people we long to return to, to survive for, certainly even you?”

Vegeta blinked. “I…” He hadn’t thought about it really. Of course Vegeta would prefer not to die, but on the other hand, dying in battle was the fate awaiting all saiyans. It was only a question of w _hen._

“I won’t be killed by the likes of this riffraff. My mate won’t have to worry.” He settled on.

Tentacle… Chutl, Vegeta finally remembered his name, frowned at him, double lidded eyes blinking reprovingly. “You have taken a mate prince Vegeta? Then you must understand the grief of all those who does not return to theirs.”

“Future mate…” Vegeta responded absently. This grief and moaning over lives lost in battle always pissed him off. Yes, people died. They should have trained more then. “And I will return to him, so there’s no point in fretting.”

Chutl’s tentacles seemed to sway, maybe in curiosity. “He does not worry for you?”

Vegeta ignored the question and checked his messages on a tablet he’d napped by the entrance. He flipped past all the official looking ones until he got to the private inbox, which only a few could connect to. Much to his surprise he had a message from Raditz; a video file which started playing as soon as Vegeta curiously clicked in on it.

The prince was a mixture of dumbfounded and mesmerized by what he saw.

“Is that him?” Chutl asked, leaning in to watch too, clearly not having caught on to the fact that their conversation was over. “He is very beautiful for a saiyan, is he not?”

Vegeta licked his lips. “Yes… He is.” And how. Vegeta had no idea why, but Kakarot seemed to be dancing, his upper body bared and gleaming like white marble under the red sunlight as he spun and twisted in fluid movements.

“And what if _he_ was out there, locked in battle, far from you so you couldn’t reach him in time?”

Vegeta froze at the question. “He is a warrior.” That should have been all but… Vegeta hesitated. “I wouldn’t allow him to be here unless I was sure he could handle himself, so again, I wouldn’t need to worry.”

“Ah, but don’t you see?” Chutl clucked, his species’ strange way of laughing. “It is worry that is the base of your statement. You want him safe, so you would keep him away from danger he couldn’t handle.”

“That’s preposterous.” Vegeta snorted, and looked back on Kakarot’s dancing figure flickering on the screen. “I wouldn’t choose someone weak.” He argued.

“Do not mistake loving someone for taking them as weak... Or as weakness in yourself.”

This time Vegeta did draw away while sending an affronted look Chutl’s way. “Who says I love him? I’m not that foolish.” Mating with Kakarot was a strategically sound plan. The beta was strong and beautiful, so of course he would be Vegeta’s. Clearly there had been some sort of mix up which had caused Kakarot to falsely classified as a third class, or there’d been a happy mutation of the otherwise garbage lower class genepool to result of a saiyan such as him. Whatever the case, Vegeta wouldn’t let an unexpected diamond be snagged by a piece of coal.   

Chutl merely smiled at him. “Why, _you_ did, prince Vegeta. Your eyes called it out loud and clear as you watched him.”

“Keh!” Vegeta shook his head and stood up. He turned off the tablet and abandoned it on his way back outside. _Love_ … The word was like poison drilling into his mind. “Ridiculous. I won’t let myself be compromised.” Vegeta stated, to no one but himself, as he once more entered the battle field. He’d fight, he’d win, he’d go back to Base One, and as for Kakarot, the beta would never set foot on this battle field nor one like it, not with the Ginyu force running around, so there was no reason to even contemplate it.

“Love indeed.” Vegeta muttered darkly, and then slaughtered a man who’d taken a chance on Vegeta’s apparent distraction to draw stupidly close. The blood spray made him feel better.

xXx

_Priority missive received, priority missive received, priority missive received, priority miss—_

“Someone turn that infernal thing off!” Turles ordered just as the computerized voice demanding the crews’ attention cut off.

Cacao was already reading the missive on the main screen. “Captain, it’s an emergency battle response call. We are to appear on Base One, gather our team’s forces there, and then head out for planet Quatara, where the prince and the A team plus allies are locked in battle. There are reports of the Ginyu forces being present.”

Turles rested his chin in his hand. “ _Vegeta_ is sending for help you say? Ha, he must have really stepped in it this time.” Turles tapped his chin. “Can we ignore it?”

Cacao shook his big pink and droopy head. “’Fraid not captain, they’ll know we’ve received it and where we are.”

“Tsk…” Turles was loathe to come to Vegeta’s aid of all people. But then another thought occurred to him. “Say, isn’t Kakarot on Base One right now?”

The big pink crewman scratched his head. “There were some reports of that, yes. Not just rumors, I think.”

Turles leaned back in his chair, pleased smile stretching over his lips. “Well what are we waiting for then?” He grinned. “Set the course for Base One immediately, and alert our fringe teams.” He ordered the people on the bridge, but to himself he continued. “Kakarot is all alone right now, and Vegeta is off to court with death.” Turles smirked. “The odds are in my favor.”

xXx

Back on Base One, Goku sat bolt upright with a gasp and looked around, but his room was calm and quiet aside from Raditz snoring on his couch. With an unsettled frown Goku slipped out of bed and went to throw some cold water in his face. He watched his own dark eyed and pale reflection in the mirror, reading the unease in his expression there. It had been almost two days since Vegeta left. In just a few hours Goku could visit the doctor again and be declared ready for battle. Hopefully.

So then, why did he have this uneasy pit in the base of his stomach?

Frowning he drank a glass of water and went back to bed. Just a few hours to go.

 

xXx

 

“Why?!?” Goku demanded, standing up with his fists clenched.

Coquille glanced at him, unimpressed. “Your hormones are still too high. The stress of battle could throw you into a heat again.” She told him calmly.

Goku took several steps forward. “You don’t understand, this morning I got the news that they’re calling reinforcements. Vegeta is in trouble.”

Coquille snuffed out a cigarette bud in her ash tray; smoking might be bad form for a doctor, but this particularly blend of tobacco only affected her species as far as she knew, and besides, she needed it to deal with these bloody saiyans. “Vegeta is a big boy and can take care of himself.” She said, before lighting a new one. “He doesn’t need your hormonal ass to run around getting yourself killed.” She took a pull and blew it out without looking at the fuming beta.

Goku growled, but tried to calm himself and approach this with reason. He was starting to mimic the other saiyans too much in his actions. He briefly closed his eyes before trying again. “Please Coquille, I know I shouldn’t be jumping into the midst of it, but I can still help.” Goku made his voice plaintive, which wasn’t hard, he was desperate to go. “With my power level it’s irresponsible to hold me back.” He argued, voice still sad. No one but Vegeta and Tarble knew that he still couldn’t control his power output completely, and Goku wasn’t about to tell anyone if it kept him out of fighting.

Coquille frowned and watched the beta curiously while pulsing on her cigarette. In her living memory she could not remember ever having seen a saiyan beg. “You must really like Vegeta.” She noted, before shaking her head. “I honestly don’t see the appeal.”

“Please Coquille, please, please, please!” Goku continued.

The doctor held up her hand to stop him. “Fine! Just, shut it with the ‘please’, it’s freaking me out.”

Goku pumped his fist with a whispered “Yes!”

“Not so fast.” Coquille told him. “I’m not giving you a clean bill of health. I’m allowing you to be put on communications with your brother, seeing as he’ll be going too. “ She turned around to write the note into the system, ignoring Goku’s disappointed expression. “Don’t pout. The only reason I’m even doing this is that you seem the type to jump in a space pod and go by yourself if you don’t get your way.” She grumbled.

“Well, that was the next plan, yes.” Goku feinted, refraining from mentioning how he couldn’t even fly a space pod.

“Fucking battle maniacs you saiyans.” Coquille muttered as she finished the note. She twirled around in her chair. “There, it’s done. Now get out of my sight and don’t come crying if you mess up your body in the meantime, ya hear me?”

“Yes! Thank you Coquille! Thank you so much!” Goku yelled, while quickly jumping up and getting out of dodge before the doctor could change her mind.

Coquille chewed on her cigarette as she watched him go. “Why do I get the feeling that I’m gonna regret this…”

xXx

Goku tore through his room, looking for his scouter, which he’d misplaced days ago, and his armor which was lying around all over the place. His door was open, and suddenly a tall shadow fell into his room, caused by the light in the hallway.

“Hey Raditz, do you know where I put my—“

“Hello Kakarot, long time no see.” Turles purred.

Goku swirled around just as the door closed behind the other saiyan with an audible snick. He stared wide eyed at the taller, darker skinned man, who in many ways resembled him, physically at least. “What are you doing here?” Goku asked him blankly, completely thrown by Turles presence.

Turles stepped closer. “I’m the commander of Team B, remember? I’m here to join the battle of course.”

Goku stopped himself from taking a step back. “What are you doing in my room then?” He retorted. Everyone was to gather in the hanger, so Turles should have no business here.

The commander grinned. “Well, that’s a different kind of battle, now isn’t it…” He stepped closer to Goku again, their chests almost brushing as Turles looked the younger saiyan over. He frowned when he got to Goku’s neck, the body suit not completely covering Vegeta’s mark from two days ago though it had faded. “What’s this?” Turles asked, voice low as he pulled on Goku’s neckline to reveal the mark.

Goku slapped his hand away and stepped back. “None of your business.”

Turles fangs appeared, glinting in the low light of the room. “Is that Vegeta’s work?” He growled. “I think it rather is my business, since I was courting you first.”

Goku’s eyes widened, but he quickly controlled his surprise. “No you didn’t. I never agreed to that.”

“Didn’t seem like that when I had you in my ship.” Turles countered with a leer.

“I…” Goku shook his head and looked away. “Just go. I’m courting Vegeta now so—“

Turles was over him in a flash, the sudden force tripping Goku over so he landed on his back in the bed. Turles followed him down and grabbed his wrists. “Oh? So you’ve managed to intrigue the prince.” He leaned closer, until their noses were brushing. “Tell me Kakarot, would Vegeta be just as interested in you if he knew where you _really_ got your powers from?” Turles asked meanly, breath teasing against Goku’s lips.

Goku froze.

Turles chuckled, pleased to have hit a vulnerable spot. He squeezed the beta’s wrists in his hands. “He wouldn’t, would he?” He leaned in until his mouth was next to Goku’s ear. “Imagine the expression on Vegeta’s face if he learned. If he knew how easily you gave yourself up at the chance of power.” Turles nipped at Goku’s ear flip. “Would he try to kill you for your deception?”

Goku shuddered. “H-he wouldn’t…”

“Ah, but you’re not sure are you?” Turles rubbed his own cheek slowly against Goku’s, drawing back until he could look the beta in his eyes. “Now me? I’ve liked you since before you got that power. I’d take you just as you are, no fuss, no more being the center of gossip and public opinion.” Turles allowed his smirk to widen. “We’d travel the universe together, and battle side by side. We’d be equals.” He purred the last word.

Goku stared up at him, wrists still trapped, eyes wet and wide.

Turles smiled crookedly down at the prone teen. “The best you can hope for with Vegeta is that he only locks you up during your pregnancies, and not simply all the time. You’d be his broodmare, no longer a warrior.”

This finally seemed to be enough to make Goku struggle to get free. “You’re lying! Let go of me!!”

Turles held him easily, still by far the stronger of the two. “Oh am I? And what are you basing that on exactly? How long have you known Vegeta again, and what has he promised you? Did he say _anything_ about allowing you to fight?”

_‘I want you to become my mate, my consort, and carry our children, who will then one day rule our planet.’_

Goku stilled again as the memory of Vegeta’s words sprung to mind, and fervently he searched for any recollection he had of Vegeta acknowledging him as a warrior. They’d spoken of Goku fighting back in the nature room, Vegeta had said he wouldn’t stop him… He’d meant that, right?  “I-it’s not true…” Goku argued, but his voice as feeble.

Turles was grinning now. “You know it is. I’m sure he’s managed to lull you into some sense of security while you were sick and your guard was lowered, but is that really the kind of alpha you want?”

Goku squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away. He didn’t want to hear anymore. Turles words made too much sense; they fueled the flames of doubt Goku carried within himself. He tried to remember his other conversations with Vegeta, but the memories were like water between his fingers as Turles continued to press down on him.

Turles leaned down and rested his forehead lightly against Goku’s temple. His voice turned gentle. “I’m not saying this to be mean. I’m saying it because I _care_ about you.” He carefully released one of Goku’s wrists and used his own now unoccupied hand to stroke the beta’s hair soothingly. “You have so much potential. You could become a fierce and admired warrior, you might even….” Turles trailed off.

Goku swallowed, caught in the other man’s web. “What?”

Turles let out a slow breath. “You might even be the one to defeat Frieza.” He whispered.

This caused Goku to finally reopen his eyes and turn his head enough to watch Turles, who looked back steadily. Goku still looked doubtful, he’d thought about it himself of course, but no one else had ever supported the idea… Turles caught his doubt and was quick to reassure. “It’s true that you’re not strong enough yet, but damnit Kakarot, before I even met you I heard tails of how quickly you grew and evolved. If you kept going like you were before Vegeta got his hands on you, then you’d outclass us all in a matter of years, if not less. Not even Frieza would stand a chance then.”

Goku lay frozen, staring up at the older man who was watching him honestly. He wasn’t being held fast anymore, Turles last remaining grip around his one wrist no longer restricting, yet he couldn’t move, and the bigger saiyan was covering like a blanket, his pleasant scent spawning memories of the time they had sparred, and the fun it had been. “I don’t know what to do.” Goku finally croaked, voice breaking. He wanted to believe in Vegeta, but…

Turles sighed and ran a hand soothingly through the teenager’s wild dark hair again. “I’m not demanding anything of you right now. I just wanted you to know that… Well, you have options.” Turles gently caught Goku’s chin and lifted the beta’s face until their eyes locked. “You don’t have to go along with what Vegeta wants you to just because he’s the prince or even because he’s strong. You have so much more potential than him anyway.”

Goku closed his eyes and felt a confused tear tickle down from the corner to his ear. He’d been going along with Vegeta, and Tarble too, everyone on base really; just letting himself be led and responding to whatever happened in the present. Once again he hadn’t thought about what that would mean for his future. It was true that he didn’t know Vegeta that well yet, and Goku had thought about the prince’s sudden switch in attitude before, hadn’t he? But being with Vegeta… it didn’t _feel_ wrong.  

He was brought back to the present by Turles slowly getting off of him. Goku reopened his eyes and sat up, drying the one traitorous tear track marring his cheek and feeling fragile and suddenly unsure about his place in the world. Turles watched him, face unreadable.

“We’re both going to join a battle soon, and if we’re not careful, we could die.” Turles said, his voice that of a commander. “I hope you’ll think about what I’ve said, but… Take care out there. Call me if you’re in trouble and I’ll come find you, I promise.” With one last glance at Goku’s eyes, Turles noted the turmoil and insecurity which had taken root there, and then left.

As soon as he’d excited the room and closed the door behind himself, Turles grinned. _Like stealing candy from a baby_. “Serves you right Vegeta.” Turles growled, but kept a spring in his steps as he left towards the hanger. Now all he needed to do was wait. Turles was quite sure that Vegeta would provide the final push necessary to tip the scale in Turles’ favor all by himself. The princes’ hotheadedness was good for some things.

Back in the room Goku pulled his knees up to his chest and hid his face there. He didn’t know what to think. Everything had seemed pretty easy when Vegeta had been right next to him, taking care of him and, yes, lulling him into a sense of security. Part of Goku wished that the prince was here now. If Turles hadn’t given that jarring speech…

The door to the room reopened and Goku briefly tensed up before he recognized his brother’s ki. “Kakarot? What are you doing just sitting here in the darkness. We’ve got a ship to catch!”

Goku uncurled himself and got out of the bed, but he felt almost lethargic. Most of his energy and excitement had fled, and briefly he considered just staying back to give himself some time to think things over, before he shook the thought from his head. He wouldn’t run from a battle. “Sorry Raditz, I couldn’t find my scouter and I just…” He trailed off.

Raditz finally noticed that something seemed completely off with his little brother. “Kakarot? Is something wrong?”

“…” Goku didn’t reply, he didn’t know what to say or how to explain. He was back to feeling unsure what he wanted from Vegeta. Or, no… He knew what he wanted, but did Vegeta want the same? He liked the prince as more than a rival, that was true, but was Vegeta even viewing Goku like that? Like an opponent to take serious and a warrior in his own right? Goku wanted _both_ that and kisses. They’d talked about sparring, but…

Unnerved by the silence Raditz continued. “Your scouter’s over by the closet… Are you sure you’re fine? You’re not… Relapsing or something?”

Goku shook his head and went over to pick up his scouter, abandoning his whirling thoughts for now. “No, I’m fine. I just have some things to think about, I guess.”

Raditz didn’t like the tone in his brother’s voice. “…Well, okay then.” He gestured for the open door. “Let’s get going then?”

Goku nodded, put on his scouter and walked out. He had a battle to fight. More than one…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not ‘when will he be back’ or ‘when will I see him again’, no no, the kicking ass part is important XD   
> Ahh... Emotional battles.   
> And fucking Turles. Bet you thought you’d seen the last of him. But nope. Saiyans are like space fungus; unless completely destroyed, they keep coming back.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An essay in impulsivity:

Planet Quatara was quite beautiful. It was a water world, home to semi aquatic aliens and a rich trade post for many exotic things, both from the vast deep and blue waters on the planet and wares brought by merchants who traded there. Right now it was also the scene of a bloody and very muddy battle.

The female communications officer who received Goku and Raditz after they landed was already cursing up a storm. “Rains all the fucking time. Mud gets in everywhere. Into all the equipment. Why won’t the prince let us invest in the never Lorkell tech? It’s fucking water proof. I could cry tears of joy on it without it frizzing and shorting out.”

“Hello to you too Amarant.” Raditz greeted, faintly amused. Amarant merely growled in reply. “This is my brother, Kakarot.” Raditz drew Goku forwards with a hand on his back. “He’s new at communications and will probably be pretty fucking useless, so just make him mop up water or something.”

“Hey!” Goku complained, offended.

Raditz shrugged. “Just telling it how I see it. We’re in the middle of a battle. No one has time to cuddle you, so make yourself useful or go back.”

“Couldn’t have said it better Raditz.” Amarant broke in. “Except for, oh yea, don’t touch my fucking equipment, you got it?!” She pointed a sharp nailed finger in Goku’s face.

“Got it.” Goku meeped, almost saluting out of surprise by her crazy eyed glare.

“Hmp. Mop and towels are over there, good luck keeping anything relatively dry. It’s a losing battle, but one you need to win.” She told Goku, while waving him towards the corner. Goku went and picked a towel up with a frown. This wasn’t exactly what he’d been hoping for when he’d begged Coquille to let him go, but now he was starting to see why the doctor had relented. She’d known that he’d be absolutely miserable.

As he dried off condensation and tried to mop up puddles, Goku listened to the chatter drifting over the different channels, and winced whenever a scream spilt the air. He’d seen battles on Earth, but never on this scale.

Curiously Goku started expanding his senses, letting his mind drift out from the bunker he was currently in and across the vast marshlands making up the battlefield. He searched out the energies of the saiyans and their allies, and tried to get a sense of them. He drew closer, trying to figure out what was happening out there, when suddenly a sharp pain shot through him, then another, and another again. Goku gasped and his knees buckled, his stomach turned and he was forced to empty it. The life energies he’d connected himself to were rapidly going out, men being killed one after the other, and the sudden disconnect was painful and jarring. Goku landed on the wet floor, trying to stop himself from convulsing. The pain the soldiers had felt in their last moments had been projected unto him, like anguished mental screams. He’d never experienced anything like it.

Goku was the one screaming now.

“Kakarot! Kakarot!”

“What the hell is wrong with him!?!”

“I don’t know! Kakarot! What did you do?!”

Goku gasped and reached out a hand blindly. “R-Raditz!” He sobbed. He tried to focus on his brother’s familiar ki, but he couldn’t pull himself together. He couldn’t pull back in. People kept _dying._

“Shh, shh. Listen to my voice. Here,” He felt Raditz gathering him up and pressing Goku’s face to his chest. “My heartbeat. Can you hear it? Follow it back. Let go of whatever they’re feeling and _come back.”_

Still sobbing like a child, from pain and fear that weren’t his, Goku did as he was told and listened to the strong beating heart belonging to his older brother. Raditz combed fingers through his hair all the while. “Come back, just come back. Don’t listen to them. Come back.” He kept whispering.

Goku finally managed to regain control of his senses and his body. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. “H-how did you know?” How had his brother known to bring him back? How had he even known what was happening?

Raditz remained quiet for a moment. “Back when you taught Vegeta how to sense ki… How to raise and lower it? I was listening. I’ve been practicing ever since.” He admitted quietly. “I felt something similar the first time I tried using it on a mission.”

“I-I didn’t know.” Goku croaked, feeling absolutely wretched and tasting nothing but tearstained snot and vomit. He never wanted to feel like that again. It had been horrible. Feeling someone else die…

“I didn’t tell you.” Raditz simply responded. He was still stroking Goku’s hair.

Amarant wasn’t as patient. “What the hell was that?!” She screeched. “You wanna explain how you felt the need to bring someone who’d make nothing but drama and puke all over my floor, huh, Raditz?!”

Raditz growled. “Shut up woman. He fucked up, but he didn’t know. He has this… Semi telepathic thing going. Don’t ask. I’m taking him to the med bay, then I’ll be right back.”

Goku felt himself being lifted and hid his face in his brother’s shoulder in shame. So much for being a promising warrior. He couldn’t stop shaking.

He must have lost a bit of time, because next thing he knew Raditz was settling him under a thin scratchy blanket and frowning down at him. “Just…” The older saiyan sighed and ran a hand through his own wild mane of hair. “Just stay here, okay? We don’t have time for this, or your lack of training.” Another sigh. “Bringing you along was a mistake…” Raditz shook his head and stood up. “Stay there and out of trouble.” He repeated, then left.

Goku curled up on his side, arms around his legs, in misery. _‘Bringing you along was a mistake’_ – wow, but did that ever smart.

Goku simply lay there for a while, eyes closed and focusing within himself to block out all the noises and the smell of blood. This was what he’d asked to join. He’d wished to be here.

Goku hadn’t known what he’d be getting into at all.

On Earth battles had been… Not _always_ fun, but at least exhilarating. It had been him against an opponent, or many, testing his own strength and growing. Sure he’d been more ruthless as a child… But he hadn’t been able to feel ki back then, or been very well socialized, Goku had to admit. Here there was nothing but mud, blood and screams of the dying or wounded mixed with the smell of medicinal chemicals.

Goku realized he couldn’t stay in the med bay either. There was too many wounded in here; the hall giant and made to house hundreds for emergency treatment before they could be carried off to a tank, or to wherever the bodies were put…

He got up, and no one noticed him. He picked up his scouter, but turned it off before putting it on. It would only distract him. He walked out, and still no one noticed him. Goku’s heart beat in his throat as he walked along between the sick beds and examination tables, trying to look like he had somewhere to be.

No one stopped him.

A weird tingling was starting to spread from the root of his tail and up. Like an itch he couldn’t scratch.

When he finally made it outside the salty air caressing his face was almost a blessing. He opened his eyes and looked around, but no one was fighting this close, the enemies kept at bay by the blasters and bigger cannons. Goku didn’t spot any saiyans amongst the long range artillery fighters. Probably all of his own people were out there, busy using their superior battle power and tough bodies to go face to face with harder opponents.

There were enemies out there killing Goku’s people. 

Goku licked his lips and tasted salt and blood on the wind. Slowly the distant screams fizzled out, as if drowned by the sound of his blood roaring. His tail whipped about him, hair on end. The memory of pain and fear grew ever more distant.

He’d felt like this before… But when? Goku found it hard to remember all of a sudden. It wasn’t important anyway. What was important was... To fight?

Yes. That sounded right.

“U-uh, sir? Mister saiyan? Are you alright?”

It was one of the artillery soldiers, someone who’d noticed Goku just standing there, tail lashing like a whip and staring out towards the horizon.

Goku ignored him, powered up, and blasted off. Every thought in his head narrowed down to one point:

Find the strong ones and _fight._

xXx

 

Vegeta had just slaughtered about a platoon and was on the retreat before the mayhem could give away his position to the members of the Ginyu force, when his scouter started beeping insistently. Vegeta wished he could just take high into the air and rain a meteor shower down on the landscape, killing everyone in the process, but noooo, he had to save the _planet_ too, fucking go figure. The damn tentacle freaks had better damn appreciate this.

He recognized the sound to be someone calling on his private channel, and briefly frowned. He settled down into relative cover and pressed the button to respond. “Yes?”

_“Vegeta? Oh thank fuck.”_ Raditz voice greeted him. _“Okay, several things, please don’t interrupt.”_ He continued. _“Firstly, backup is here; Turles with team B and all associated fringe teams, and Cucuba with C. That’s the good news.”_

Vegeta didn’t really want to know but—“What’s the bad news?”

_“Kakarot is here too, and he’s gone fucking mental!”_ Raditz practically yelled, losing the cool he’d used to deliver official news. _“He’s either in some sort of grenade shock after accidently connecting his ki sensing to dying people and feeling the results, or in heat. Or a combination of the two.”_

“WHAT?!?”

_“I don’t even fucking know, but he’s out there right now, and we’re getting reports of him really laying into Frieza’s forces.”_ Raditz continued, ignoring the heart attack Vegeta was in the middle of having, probably too busy with his own. _“I’d cheer him on if it didn’t also seem like he was completely out of it. He’s not responding to anything.”_

Vegeta was having trouble breathing normally. “Where is he.” It wasn’t even a question.

Raditz sent him the last known coordinates, and immediately they showed up on Vegeta’s scouter. _“Please don’t kill him. I know he shouldn’t have come. He only got a partial clearing and he’s been weird since morning.”_ Raditz half begged half explained.

Vegeta just growled and turned the coms off.

He abandoned the part of the wetlands he was in, thought ‘to hell with it’ and raised high into the air so he could blast off and fly faster. He’d be a target up here, but right now he didn’t give a damn. Let someone try to stop him, and Vegeta would stop them. Permanently.

As he drew closer to the area Kakarot was supposed to be in, it became clear to Vegeta that he didn’t need the coordinates, or his scouter. The beta’s ki was a flaming roar all on its own, lighting the area up like a violently burning beacon. Even people without training in sensing ki should be able to feel this. Vegeta’s scouter started beeping, beginning the power level counter, but Vegeta shut it off. He didn’t care what the number was right now, all that mattered was that Kakarot’s power was probably as high as his own was when unsuppressed, which made it too high.

It was only a matter of time before they’d be found.

Vegeta landed on the ground behind the beta, watching with some fascination as Kakarot disposed of his current opponent; one of Frieza’s lower elites. The beta didn’t show much reaction to his arrival.

“Kakarot.” Vegeta called out while walking forward. “I distinctly remember telling you to behave and stay put. What the hell are you doing here?”

Finally Kakarot turned around and settled his gaze on Vegeta, but the expression on his face caused Vegeta to pause. Despite the hostile expression, Kakarot’s eyes looked strangely vacant, like the beta wasn’t all there. “Yes, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? If I just stayed locked up under your command and power forever. Even though people are dying.” His voice was an unfriendly snarl.

Vegeta slowed down and approached more cautiously. A faint wind brought Kakarot’s scent towards him, which only confirmed Vegeta’s suspicions. Heat was definitely a go, and not second stage this time. Oh no, this was a beta in first stage; as battle hungry and power crazed as you could be, energy and ki significantly heightened, though judging from the look on Kakarot’s face, he wasn’t one if the betas blessed with a clear mind while in first stage. Wonderful.

“Of course not Kakarot.” Vegeta reassured, changing his tone to soothe the dangerous and agitated predator before him as he slowly crept forward. The beta snarled, spittle flying, when he got too close.

Vegeta stopped, hands up. He had to get them out of here somehow before it was too late. He wet his lips. “You want a real fight, don’t you?”

The beta’s dark eyes glinted.

“These people are just common soldiers. They can’t give it to you.” He took a careful step closer, slowly raising his own ki so Kakarot could sense it. “Come with me instead, and we’ll battle. No holds barred, I promise.” Well, he promised right until he could get someone to shoot the beta full of sedatives. Tempting as it was to fight Kakarot, Vegeta _really didn’t_ have the time right now. He was kinda in the middle of a war.

Either Kakarot could sense the lie, or he was just being his normal uncooperative self, but in either case the beta drew back and got into an attack stance, showing no signs of wanting to follow Vegeta. It seemed like Kakarot would be content with throwing down right here and now, and it didn’t look like it was a mating challenge on his mind either. Oh no, those eyes screamed murder. Vegeta had no idea who or what had pissed the beta off to this degree, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything in recent time to earn it himself.

He changed tactics again. “Kakarot, please listen to me. I know you’re in heat, and trust me, we’ll take care of that, but right now we need to get out of here!”

“Aww, don’t be like that Vegeta. We’ve spent all this time looking for you after all.”

Vegeta cursed and swirled around to face Recoome and Guldo as the pair landed deftly in the wet marsh. How had he not noticed?

His scouter! Vegeta turned his focus to it briefly, and it was indeed off. Blast it. He’d only meant to turn off Kakarot’s power reading, not the alert functions.

Recoome crossed his muscular arms and tossed is orange hair with a flick of his head. “And what have we here?” He asked, attention settling on Kakarot. His scouter beeped. “My but aren’t you a strong little monkey. You might almost serve as a warm up.” He looked at Vegeta. “I didn’t know there were any other saiyans of your caliber around. I thought the only reason lord Frieza kept you on as a pet was that you were supposed to be the strongest monkey there was.”

Guldo didn’t look at Kakarot, he continued glaring hatefully at Vegeta. “Let me have Vegeta then Recoome, you can have the other one.”

Recoome tsked at his small comrade. “No no, don’t be so hasty.” The giant man cast a shrewd gaze between Vegeta and Goku, his eyes betraying intelligence normally covered by silly bluster and effeminate behavior. “You seemed awfully desperate to get your friend out of here Vegeta. Would you mind telling us what that is all about? I don’t remember you caring about anyone or anything while you still worked in the Frieza Force, but ah—“ He stalled theatrically. “Of course you were nothing but a lying traitorous spy. So maybe you were just lying about that too?”

Vegeta felt himself start sweating, but grinned mockingly nonetheless. “Mind your own business clown.” There was some truth to what Recoome was saying. Vegeta had spent years of his life under Frieza pretending to have absolutely no emotions outside of rage and lust for battle. Like a rabid dog with zero regard for his own people. It was the only thing which had kept him alive.

Right now he didn’t have time for miserable recollections of the past though. He needed to figure out how to make it out of this encounter alive.

If he’d only been on his own, Vegeta thought. Then he could have shot a power ball without Kakarot being affected and… But no, even then there was still Guldo. Transforming would be useless against his abilities.

Recoome tilted his head and brought a finger to his pursed lips while pouting. “No? Don’t be so unfriendly now. You’re going to die in any case, so you might as well tell us who your little buddy is.”

Kakarot had stopped growling and snarling and seemed to be merely observing the new arrivals in silence. Vegeta didn’t know how far to trust that apparent calm but quickly moved closer anyway, placing himself in front of the beta in a protective stance. Recoome had already figured out that Vegeta had a connection with the other saiyan, so it was only a matter of time before the giant man acted on that. “Kakarot, listen to me. You need to _leave_.” The beta was in no state to plan against Guldo’s psychic powers, heat given power boost or not.

“Ve…Geta.”

He felt Kakarot coming closer to him and briefly tensed, unsure if the beta would take this chance to attack or—Kakarot rested his head on Vegeta’s shoulder. “Fuzzy…” He complained, sounding almost like his usual self. “I-I’m sorry.” Whether he spoke of his presence here or just the fact that he had briefly gone renegade was unclear.

Vegeta didn’t move his eyes from the two Ginyu force members who were watching them curiously. He’d managed to turn his scouter back on and knew it would only be a matter of time before reinforcements showed up, but how many, who and how soon he didn’t know. He licked his dry lips. “Yes, I know. But you need to snap out of it. Either leave or help me beat these guys. What’ll it be?” He asked, already out of options. Vegeta doubted that Guldo would let Kakarot leave now that it had become clear even to the little green idiot that Vegeta cared for the other saiyan to some degree.

Meanwhile Recoome was catching on faster. “My my Vegeta… It couldn’t be… Did you take a mate?” The big man sounded delighted.

Something in Vegeta’s expression must have flickered, because Recoome threw his head back and laughed, sounding like this was just the best news ever. “Oh how marvelous. To think that we’d see the day!” He turned his gaze back to Vegeta. “I can’t believe we weren’t invited to the wedding. You didn’t even send a card!” He scolded.

Vegeta watched him back coolly, not disclosing the cold sweat he felt down his back. Kakarot was still breathing unevenly, and his ki was fluctuating, like he was struggling with himself. Seemed like the heat was some sort of stress reaction after all, with how hard a time the beta was having trying to stay in control.

Recoome continued undaunted. “Tell me, what’s wrong with him? He seems awfully out of it.” He tilted his head. “Does he have a condition?”

Surprisingly Guldo spoke up. “Looks like heat. Saiyans do that when they’re ready to mate.” His tone made it clear how distasteful he found the thought of it.

Recoome looked at his companion with some surprise. “I guess hating saiyans goes hand in hand with learning their weaknesses.” He noted with a chuckle, then focused back on Vegeta. “So heat, huh? Does that mean you’d try to make children? Tsk.” Recoome wagged his finger disapprovingly. “Vegeta, Vegeta… You can’t really think Frieza would allow any more of your kind, and of you specifically, do you? Not after all the trouble you have made and continue to cause.”

Vegeta tensed up, knowing what was coming.

“It’s sad, but I’m afraid your little boyfriend has to die.”

With those words Recoome disappeared, only to reappear right behind them. Vegeta had been expecting it, but he wouldn’t be fast enough to—“Kakarot, get down!”

Recoome laughed and swung at the beta, who didn’t make any motions towards moving. Instead he… Blocked the attack?

This caught Recoome off guard and the giant man quickly pirouetted backwards and out of reach. “Hmm, how strange? I didn’t use my full power, but his head should still have come off.”

Vegeta was staring too. Kakarot meanwhile slowly lowered his arms, which he’d used to block, and hissed as he did so. He turned his head and when his eyes finally found Vegeta’s, the prince realized that Kakarot had gotten his faculties back. “That hurt.” The beta stated, eyes clear but still confused, clearly not remembering much of how he got where he was. “Who’re these guys?”

Vegeta turned his attention back to Recoome, watching for an attack. “Frieza’s special mercenary band, the Ginyu force.” Probably sent especially to kill Vegeta. He nodded towards Guldo. “The little freak isn’t that strong, but he has psychic powers, so watch out. He can stop time, but only for a little while at a time.”

Kakarot was visibly starting to analyze the situation too, tactical mind working fast now that he’d gotten it back online. “For how long at a time?”

“Not sure.” Vegeta admitted. He’d never been able to figure it out while he worked under Frieza as a spy.

Recoome clapped his hands. “Now don’t forget about me boys, or I’ll be sad.”

Vegeta eyed Guldo; Recoome would be bad enough by himself, but with the little freak backing him up… “Kakarot,” He whispered lowly. “Even with our power levels combined we’re no match for Recoome’s. We need to buy time.” For what Vegeta wasn’t even sure. Hopefully someone he could use as a meat shield would show up and Vegeta would be able to drag Kakarot out of there while the Ginyu members were distracted.

“Got it.” Kakarot responded and got into a defensive stance.

“Now wait just a minute!” Recoome boomed. “We haven’t decided which of us will fight you yet!” He turned to his comrade. “I know you wanted Vegeta, Guldo, but how about you take on pretty boy instead, hmm? Give us a show before the main dish.” He tilted his head towards Vegeta, making clear who he was talking about.

Guldo frowned. The unknown saiyan was strong too, but as long as he used his abilities faster than the monkey could move, he’d be okay. “Fine. I guess killing Vegeta’s mate in front of him would serve him right.” Vegeta had mocked Guldo mercilessly back when the prince had still pretended to work for Frieza, and Guldo held a grudge which was a mile wide.

“It’s settled then.” Recoome said. He looked back at the saiyans. “You hear that? A one on one fight. If either of you move to help the other, you’ll have to face both of us.”

“What do you think, Vegeta?” Kakarot asked.

Vegeta growled. “We don’t have a choice. If you can take out Guldo that would help us a lot; just be weary of his psychic attacks.”

Kakarot stepped forward, eyes on his opponent. “That’s pretty vague advice.” He complained.

“Just be careful.” The truth was that Vegeta didn’t know how to counter Guldo yet, but if Recoome really wanted to watch Kakarot and the little freak going at it first, then Vegeta might have time to observe and figure it out.

xXx

Guldo made a ‘come at me’ motion. “So are you ready to—Eeeek!”

Goku had wasted no time in attacking. He was sure that he was going to hit the small alien, but just as he was about to connect, his fist whooshed through nothing but empty air. “What the?” Goku swirled around and got a lock on Guldo again. How could the mercenary move that fast?

“Haah, haah…” Guldo wiped his forehead. “T-that was a lucky shot! You won’t get that close again!”

Once more Goku attacked, this time with a ki blast. He shot it off, then immediately moved while determining how Guldo would try and dodge. Goku aimed for the spot he saw the alien move towards, he attacked and then—His fist met air again.

“Y-you vile monkey!” Guldo screamed, revealing his new position behind Goku.

Goku turned, watching him apprehensively. This time he’d been sure to follow the mercenary with his eyes, and Goku knew he hadn’t simply moved. Either the little man was teleporting, or he was doing as Vegeta had said and was stopping time. Guldo seemed to be out of breath though, so whatever he was doing didn’t come without a strain. Goku wondered if he could tire him out. He might have to, because right now Goku was finding it hard to control his movements, and for some reason he couldn’t seem to settle his ki. 

Meanwhile Guldo was realizing that his opponent was too fast for him. He could only stop time for as long as he could hold his breath, and that wouldn’t be nearly enough time to dispose of the saiyan. He would have to change tactics.

Goku shot off again. If he just continued pressing on—

Guldo raised his arms. “Take this, I call it Guldo Special Attack!”

Goku expected to be hit with something and tried to alter his path of flight accordingly, just to find that he couldn’t move. “Wha—“ Goku struggled, but it was like he’d been dumped into invisible concrete; none of his limbs would move.

“HA! Take that. Paralysis!” Guldo yelled. The little alien cast a glance around himself. There wasn’t a lot to use as weapons in the marshland, but a few water loving trees did grow here and there. Holding his victim captive with one hand, Guldo waved with the other, causing a tree to unearth itself and shed its branches and bark, until he was left with a long and wicked looking spear. Guldo turned his eyes back on Goku with a murderous smile.

Recoome laughed, watching his friend make ready to kill the youngest saiyan. “Do it Guldo! Make him a shish kebab!”

Guldo laughed too, sure of his victory, and threw the spear.

Goku strained against the psychic hold as he watched the spear fly towards him. It was going to impale him!

Suddenly Guldo’s laughing was cut off when an energy wave cut through his neck and sent his head rolling.

Goku felt the paralysis release and narrowly avoided the spear, tumbling in the air until he landed on the ground and looked towards where Guldo stood, trying to figure out what had happened and how he’d been saved. Heart still beating fast, Goku watched as Vegeta landed deftly behind the decapitated body and smiled callously down at Guldo’s head.

“V-Ve-geta! No f-fair, you cheated!” Guldo’s head spat out.

“There is no such thing as fair or unfair in battle. There is only victory or defeat. Or in your case; death.” Vegeta responded, then raised his hand and disintegrated Guldo with a ki blast.

Goku watched him wide-eyed. He had not expected the interference. Clearly neither had Recoome, judging by the scream he let out.

“VEGETAAA!” Recoome roared and clenched his fists in anger. “You honor-less bastard! That was supposed to be a one on one match!”

Vegeta spat on the ground where he’d disintegrated Guldo and sneered at Recoome. “Keh. Honor? What would a mercenary like yourself even know of that. I did the world a favor by ridding it of one more freak.” He turned his eyes briefly to Goku then. “Get up Kakarot, the fight isn’t over yet.”

Recoome shook his head. “Oh no it’s over. You’re both dead.” He flew into the air and readied his attack. “Recoome Renegade Bomber!” Multiple red energy blasts were sent flying towards the two saiyans on the ground, forcing them to dodge wildly.

Recoome then drove down towards the distracted saiyans, aiming for Goku. He’d make Vegeta suffer by killing his friend first. “Recoome Buster Magnum!” Recoome’s leg connected with Goku’s stomach, sending him flying up into the air. The mercenary followed his prey into the sky and kneed him in the head, gave him another fist to the gut and then lastly sent Goku flying back into the ground with another powerful kick to his stomach.

“Gah!” Goku landed in the shallow marsh water, breath completely knocked out of his lungs. The blow to his head had blinded him briefly and strong pain singed through his abdomen and brought tears to his eyes. He had not expected Recoome to be so powerful. How were they even going to fight this?!

Recoome readied himself for a dive attack. “Recoome Elegant Dive!” He yelled, as he hurtled through the air, ready to plant his knee on Goku’s throat and break his neck.

“Kakarot!” Vegeta yelled.

Goku opened his eyes when he heard Vegeta calling his name, just in time to dodge Recoome’s killing blow, the mercenary’s knee embedding itself right next to his head and causing the earth to crack and water to be stirred up like a rock had hit it. Goku rolled to the side to get away and struggled back up while holding his sternum. A stabbing pain was pulsing through his insides. He might have ruptured something.

Suddenly Vegeta was next to him, supporting Goku when he almost stumbled. “Why didn’t you dodge!? He’s too strong for you, you have to avoid him damnit!” Vegeta yelled, eyes wild. A few more hits like that and the beta would be done for.

“I get that—“ Goku coughed, and felt his abused abdominal muscles spasm painfully. Vegeta turned his head back around to watch Recoome, who was getting out of his self-made crater which was quickly filling with water.

“What is this? Are you _scared_ for him Vegeta?” Recoome taunted, eyes on how Vegeta was supporting some of Goku’s weight.

Vegeta sneered back. “I’m the prince of all saiyans. I don’t fear a buffoon like you.”

“Pity. Fear can be a healthy response you know.” Recoome remarked as he readied another energy attack. “It can stop you from getting killed.” Raising his hands above his head, Recoome started to call out “Recoome Ultra Fighting—“ But a powerful energy blast connected with Recoome’s head before he could finish.

“Funny you should mention that.” A new arrival, the one who’d shot Recoome, noted. “If you run off now you might still have a chance.”

Goku and Vegeta watched as their backup landed smoothly after delivering his attack. Vegeta growled at the sight of the other man, but Goku called out weakly. “Turles!”

Turles smirked back at the beta and winked. “Hey there, happy to see me?”

“No.” Vegeta responded in Goku’s stead. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here Turles? You’re nowhere near strong enough to take on Recoome.”

Turles rolled his shoulders with a smirk, looking unconcerned. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you Vegeta.”

Vegeta frowned and hit the button on his scouter. As far as he could tell Turles power level was the same as ever, so why did the man seem so self-assured? He couldn’t possibly both have powered up and learned to suppress his ki in the few weeks since Vegeta had last seen, and fought, with him. Before Vegeta could call the commander on the bluff, Recoome got back up. The mercenary was grinning like the energy blast had barely scratched him even though he looked singed and his armor was a mess.

“So you want to die too?” He asked, eyes on Turles. “That can be arranged.”

Smirking Turles raised his hands and started pulling off his wrist guards. The others watched as below them, a set of metal bracelets appeared, but only Vegeta recognized them for what they were.

“Those—!”

Turles grinned and ripped the bracelets off, throwing the mangled metal to the ground. He wouldn’t need them anymore after this; the cat was out of the bag. “That’s right Vegeta, power restraints. A bit crude, but I’m afraid I didn’t fancy you elites noticing how strong I actually am. I’ve seen what happens to people who threaten your positions.”

Vegeta growled. How were all these third classes suddenly growing so strong? First Bardock in his prime, then Kakarot and now Turles. Once or twice Vegeta could have written off as coincidences, especially since Bardock and Kakarot were related, but this… It made no sense! He could feel the former pirate’s power rising, up up up until it surpassed both Vegeta’s and Goku’s, if only slightly. It didn’t come close to reaching Recoome’s though. “So you’ve been lying.” Vegeta growled, rage bubbling and threatening to spill over.

Turles shrugged. “Call it a small omission if you will.” He turned his attention back on Recoome, but continued speaking to Vegeta. “We should have another fight after this. I’m sure this time the results will be different.”

Vegeta growled again and pulled Kakarot closer to himself by the waist. He knew what Turles were referring to, and he wouldn’t let it stand. Kakarot was his. “How about you try to survive this first?” He suggested meanly. Turles might have upped his power a bit, but he was still no match for Recoome, and Vegeta would have no scruples letting him die.

Goku looked between Vegeta and Turles. “How about you work together?” He suggested, exasperated. Goku was out of commission, he knew he shouldn’t move with the injuries he’d gotten, and he’d appreciate the breather. “If you do then I’m sure you can take him.”

Both Turles and Vegeta gave Goku a look like he’d lost all cognitive function, before glaring at each other. Turles was the first to turn his head away. “Tch. Much as I’m loathe to admit it, Kakarot has a point.”

“Pha! I’m not working with you! Not in a million years.” Vegeta would rather be killed by Recoome than suffer _that_ humiliation. But Kakarot’s words _had_ made him refocus. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by Turles right now, Recoome was the bigger concern.

Goku pulled at Vegeta’s sleeve. “Vegeta be reasonable! Putting your and Turles powers together would make you stronger than Recoome. Just do it.” He argued.

Vegeta clenched his teeth. What Kakarot was saying was true, but that didn’t mean Vegeta had to like it. “Fine. Just stand back and watch out; he might still go for you.” Vegeta snapped to the beta and flew over to land closer to Turles and Recoome. He glanced at the other saiyan. “Don’t think this doesn’t mean I won’t end you later.”

Turles grinned back. “I’ll say the same to you.” He refocused on Recoome. “But right now I guess we need both of us.”

“Oh? Is that your way of saying that you won’t use this chance to dispose of me?” Vegeta asked, one eyebrow lifted.

“Where’d be the fun in that?” Turles replied with a smirk.

“I see you’ve decided on your lineup.” Recoome noted and took a step forward while cracking his knuckles. “Here I come then!” The mercenary yelled and launched himself towards them.

Turles let loose a full frontal energy blast, while Vegeta took to the air and then dove towards the mercenary when he was blinded by Turles attack; planting a knee in his skull. “Gah!” Recoome fell over, but Vegeta didn’t let up. He let loose a barrage of energy shots, blasting the downed man repeatedly, until the water around him started steaming from the energy. Turles joined in, and after several moments they both drew back to watch the new steaming and smoking crater.

“Did it work?” Turles asked.

Vegeta extended his senses—“No, he’s still alive.” He grit out. And those blasts had been at max power too...

From within the smoke a tall figure slowly stood up, an eerie chuckle reaching their ears as Recoome exited the blast zone. He was down to his body suit, which was ripped all over, but he was still grinning. “You’re nothing but a warmup for the mighty Recoome!” The mercenary struck a pose. “It rhymes with doom and you’ll be hurting all too soon!” He pivoted. “Ahh, I really am a man of many talents.”

Turles and Vegeta watched him, both tense and faces grim. “Shit. That didn’t even scratch him!” Turles said. He eyed Vegeta. “You might have to go Oozaru.”

Vegeta glared back. “If I make a power ball then both you and Kakarot will be affected by it too, and neither of you have control of the transformation.” He argued. “Besides, I’d need an opening to do that.” And Recoome knew about Oozaru and would be smart enough not to give him one.

Turles bit his cheek and thought wildly. “Keep it as a backup then, for if you get the chance. Just give me the sign and I’ll grab Kakarot and get out of here before we can be affected.”

“Not a chance.” Vegeta spat. “Kakarot isn’t going anywhere with you.”

Seeing the two saiyans distracted, the mercenary struck again. “Recoome Eraser Gun!” Powerful pink energy started charging in his mouth.

“Shit. Dodge!” Turles jumped to the side, but Vegeta wasn’t quite fast enough. He could feel the massive force of the energy Recoome was charging and mentally cursed. _‘That shot could destroy the entire planet!’_

Recoome laughed and aimed for Vegeta, but just as he was about to let loose his attack he was hit on his head from above, causing him to snap his teeth together. The energy, with nowhere to go, exploded on in on itself and knocked out most of his teeth before escaping and shooting off into the distance.

In the horizon, a mountain was disintegrated.

Goku, the one who had hit Recoome, did an airborne backwards somersault and landed on the ground several feet away. He stumbled upon landing and gripped his belly with a hiss and gritted teeth. Something was very wrong with him; the punches he’d taken before might have caused him to bleed internally. He shouldn’t have moved, but Vegeta had been right in the path of the attack…

“Kakarot! I told you to stay back!” Vegeta yelled, face white. That had been too close, and now the beta had made a target of himself.

Goku tried to smile back. “No choice.” He argued, but then bowed over when a strong cramp went through him. Something was definitely wrong!

“Kakarot!?” Vegeta landed next to him, a hand on his shoulder as Goku panted for air. “You’re too hurt, you need a tank.” The prince determined, noticing Goku’s cold clammy skin and how the beta was quickly turning more pallid. If this kept up he would go into shock. “As soon as you see a chance, get out of here.” Vegeta ordered, hoping that Goku would stay conscious long enough to get himself away.

Goku grit his teeth and got back up. “I might have ruptured something... I think I’m bleeding internally” He admitted. He smiled weakly at Vegeta then. “At least that’s where the blood supposed to be.” He joked.

“Don’t fucking joke about that!” Vegeta yelled. He spotted movement out the corner of his eye and grabbed hold of Goku, narrowly managing to get them both out of the path of an energy beam.

Recoome growled as he watched the two saiyans dodge and touch back down. “I’m not letting him escape.” He promised darkly, blood and spit dripping down his chin from his bleeding gums. With a roar he threw himself at the pair, and Vegeta was forced to block him or let Goku, who was moving too slowly, take the hit.

Vegeta grunted as Recoome slammed into him, but managed to stand his ground. Recoome towered over him, blood dripping down on the prince from the mercenary’s face. The bigger man pulled a fist back and aimed a hit for Vegeta’s torso which connected, and then continued, turning his attacks into a barrage.

It became too much and Vegeta was thrown back, slamming into a rock and breaking the stone with the force of his impact. “Gah!” Blood spurted from his mouth and he had to struggle to free himself and get back up.

While Recoome was distracted by Vegeta, Turles attacked again. He formed an energy ring sparking with electricity and sent it flying. “Kill Driver!”

It hit Recoome in the back and the resulting explosion knocked him over. For a moment it looked like he wouldn’t get back up, but then he slowly did. “One after the other. Attacking from behind. Grrr…” He turned around and launched himself at Turles, his superior speed catching the saiyan off guard. “Recoome Kick!” He roundhouse kicked Turles out of the sky, but followed the man before he could connect with the ground and hit him again. “Aaaand Recoome Boom!” He called out and hit Turles in the chest with a powered up elbow.

Turles went flying and connected with the ground. Meanwhile Recoome deftly touched back down and looked around himself, taking in the sight of the bleeding and battered saiyans. He fixed his attention on Vegeta, who was still on his legs and looking like he was going to attack again. Predictably, the prince did.

“Galick Gun!” Fueled by rage Vegeta threw his energy attack, then immediately followed after and connected with Recoome, forcing the mercenary back. For a while he put the bigger man on the defensive as they got locked in hand to hand combat in mid-air.

“I gotta hand it to you, I’m impressed.” Recoome called out as he narrowly avoided Vegeta’s fist. “But let’s see if you can bounce back from this one!” With brutal force he planted an elbow in Vegeta’s back and sent him hurtling into the muddy water below.

Recoome laughed as Vegeta disappeared beneath the surface with a splash. “Ha ha! You’re all washed up. Don’t tell me that was all, I didn’t even have a chance to use my favorite move!”

As if having heard the taunt Vegeta exploded back out of the water and head-dived like a missile into Recoome’s gut. Recoome chocked from pain and bowed over, as Vegeta, who was now holding him up, drew his fist back and hit him again, and then again and again and again.

Recoome wasn’t undamaged from the saiyans’ collective efforts, but he eyed his chance to turn the situation back around. He grabbed Vegeta around the waist, his giant hands practically encircling the smaller saiyan, and lifted Vegeta above his head. Then he drove for the ground, with Vegeta’s head first.

Vegeta was embedded upside down, his whole head and upper body covered in the dirt and his legs sticking into the air. Recoome released him and stood back to laugh at the sight. “He he, hahaha—owie…” He broke off his laughter to rub his sore chest. He should probably think about finishing this, he realized. “What do we have here; a vegetable ready to be picked.” With those words Recoome grabbed Vegeta’s leg and pulled him back out of the ground. He dangled the prince’s unconscious body, before throwing him away. Vegeta rolled, came to a stop, and didn’t move.

“Too bad you’re not awake when you die.” Recoome remarked, and then started charging the final blow. Oh well. Vegeta was the one they’d been sent to annihilate in the first place, in fact this whole conflict had been a means to draw the prince out, so at least Frieza would be happy with the successful mission. 

“Ka-me-ha-me-HA!”

A power blast hit Recoome in the side and sent him flying before he could deliver the final blow. The mercenary was thrown face first into a rock and had to spend a moment reorienting himself before pulling free. He shook free of the rubble and glared back. He thought he’d taken care of the other two monkeys, so who—?

Goku panted, face scrunched in pain as he slowly lowered his hands after firing the Kamehameha. “Haah, haaah, haaah…” He put a hand on his abdomen, as if that would starve off the pain, and looked towards Vegeta. The prince was safe; Goku had managed to stop Recoome in time. He looked back at the mercenary and glared. His vision was starting to blur over, and he couldn’t really feel his legs, but he had moved before thinking when he saw the danger Vegeta was in.

Recoome limped closer with a predatory expression. “I’d forgotten about you… Don’t want your mate to die before you, huh? I’ll be merciful then. You can go first.”

Once again Recoome was hit by an energy beam and sent flying before he could make good of his threat. Turles watched the mercenary be hit by his attack and hurtled away, then touched down next to Goku and grabbed him. “Put your arms around me; we’re leaving. Now!” He ordered. Recoome had been thrown quite far, but he’d be back eventually.

Goku shook his head and looked past Turles shoulder. “Vegeta…”

“I’m awake.” With a pained grunt Vegeta raised himself from the ground and focused his one good eye on Turles and Goku. The other was swollen shut and covered in blood.

The commander nodded at him, they both knew this was the chance.

“Turles, I’m making an energy ball. Get him out of here fast, that’s an order.”

Turles nodded again and picked Goku up despite his protests. “Close your eyes.” He told the beta.

Goku looked wildly between the alphas. “What are you doing?!” Vegeta was injured. They couldn’t just leave him here!

Without answering Turles kicked off, flying away as fast as he could. Vegeta watched them go, and then turned his attention towards the sky. His entire body smarted like one big bruise, and his blood was dripping unto the muddy ground, but he steadied and locked his legs nonetheless.

With a strained yell he created an energy ball and launched it into the air. The artificial moon flew up into the clouds, spreading and disintegrating them and casting a powerful blue tinted white light over the landscape. Vegeta kept his eye fixed on it, and felt how his heart started thumping. His vison went red as his eyes turned the same color, and the fur on his tail stood on end before it started spreading. Vegeta roared as his muscles bulged and he grew, snout elongating to accommodate his bigger and sharper fangs.

The roar of a giant ape rang throughout the marshlands, causing every saiyan and ally who knew what it meant to pause.

Goku, who was still being carried away by Turles, heard it too. He looked over the commander’s shoulder, towards the direction they were fleeing from. “Wh-what was… Was that?” He hadn’t closed his eyes as ordered, and in the distance, still covered in pale light, Goku saw a monster rise to tower towards the heavens.

“That’s Vegeta. He’s transformed.” Turles told him, voice stressed. “Now close your damn eyes before you do too.”

Goku quickly obeyed. He squeezed his eyes shut and hit his face in Turles’ shoulder. “Will he be safe?”

“Probably.” Turles gritted out and sped up. He didn’t want to be caught in an Oozaru’s fighting zone. Not even by one as in control as Vegeta.

Back in the other direction the saiyan prince had finished his transformation, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed by his opponent. Recoome stared up at the giant ape, face pale, smirk finally wiped off his expression. “Aww shit.”

Knowing that his chances had just plummeted, Recoome started charging another Eraser Gun Blast, pink energy gathering in his mouth once more. Not even a great saiyan ape would be able to survive a blast which could take out half a planet.

Recoome’s one miscalculation was that he’d expected Vegeta to be too slow to stop him. But unfortunately for the mercenary, Vegeta didn’t lose any of his speed once transformed.

Vegeta moved. Despite his large size, he blurred out of sight, leaving only an afterimage for Recoome to stare at. Next thing the mercenary knew he had been caught in a giant rough skinned palm, a thumb the size of his head covering his mouth and preventing him from shooting his Eraser Gun. As he struggled to get free, Vegeta slowly raised the Ginyu force member to be eyelevel. Vegeta’s voice was a deep growl as he spoke. “You’ve proved to be annoying. I didn’t want to have to use this form.”

“Mmmhf!” Recoome responded, nothing visible of him but his wide eyes.

“You hurt Kakarot and drew my blood… My royal blood, spilled by filth like you.” The giant ape let out a rumbling snarl. “Now suffer while you die.” He growled, and then started squeezing the mercenary, whose scream was audible even with Vegeta’s thumb muffling him.

Vegeta took his time killing Recoome. For ten minutes he slowly increased the pressure on the captured man, until the prince finally felt his bones break and heard his screaming cut off. In the end he was left with nothing but a bloody paste of organs and flesh oozing and marring his palm.

Vegeta shook off the disgusting mess from his hand and lifted his gaze towards the still burning power ball. As he destroyed it, he hoped that no one else had been caught by its light and transformed. It would be a giant pain to have an out of control Oozaru run rampant on the planet.

With nothing else to do, Vegeta started slowly moving towards where he felt peoples energy fluctuating, signifying battle. He was still injured, and would turn back soon. He also wanted to catch up with Kakarot and Turles before the commander could get a chance to do anything weird, but he might as well clean up whoever crossed his path on his way back, at least until his transformation wore off.

With the two members of the Ginyu force dead, all that was left was the riffraff. Even without Vegeta, his forces should be able to handle the rest. The fight was as good as over.

It didn’t still the lust for violence in Vegeta’s mind though. After all, Kakarot was still in heat, and Turles still hadn’t caught unto the fact that the beta belonged to Vegeta.

There was still another battle to come.   

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> His name was Recoome, it rhymed with doom, and then Vegeta squashed him like a prune... That said, if Vegeta had been unable to transform (say, because his tail had been cut off) he’d have been royally fucked, pun not intended.
> 
> I'm feeling a nasty head cold coming on, so next update might take a while, depending on my level of misery.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why you should not leave adrenaline pumped alphas alone together.

Getting back wasn’t as easy as Turles could have hoped. Kakarot had passed out soon after they had left Vegeta behind, from pain and his body going into shock, and when the enemies saw a saiyan carrying their wounded comrade they of course saw a target.

Opportunistic foes therefor tried to blast Turles and his precious cargo out of the sky, and the commander dodged them irritably. They were quite persistent, but it was too bad for them. Turles was still able to dispose of them with a simple power shot, even if doing so was difficult while having to hold Kakarot steady.

It did take time though, which was something Turles didn’t have, not with how cold and pale the beta already was.

All in all he wasted way too much time before he reached the med-bay meant for officers and up. His arms were occupied with Kakarot, so he kicked the swing doors open instead. “I have a critical!” He yelled.

The doctor on shift, a blue skinned diminutive alien, looked at him in surprise before settling his gaze on Kakarot and the armor the beta was wearing, broken as it was. “Common soldiers go to the barrack med-bay.” He sniffed self-importantly.

Turles growled and walked closer, which caused the doctor to back up. Turles walked past the blue alien at first and placed Kakarot carefully on the examination table, then turned around and aimed a ki glowing hand in the doctor’s face. “Treat him or you die.”

“Y-y-y-yes sir!” The doctor stammered, voice weak from fear. He backed further away from the pissed off saiyan and waved forth the nurses. “S-start taking the patients vitals, scan him and ready a tank.”

One of the nurses was a saiyan, and she paled when she walked up to her patient and saw who had ended up on their table. “It’s Kakarot!” She screeched, which made the rest of the medical personal pause briefly as they recognized and connected the name, then, realizing what was at stake, they flurried into motion.

Turles stood back and watched tensely as the doctor and his assistants worked. If the damage was too severe to simply put Kakarot in a tank and let that take care of it…

The swing doors opened again and Vegeta staggered in, holding his shoulder with gritted teeth and bleeding heavily, yet his one good eye was focused on nothing but the examination table where Kakarot lay and the doctor was busy injecting liquid directly into the beta’s bared abdomen.

Vegeta waved away the nurse who ran up to him, his eye staying fixed. “Why isn’t he in a tank yet?” He demanded to know.

The nurse backed up slightly, but explained. “Our scanners show the internal damage is too severe… We have to stop the bleeding first or he might not make it.”

Vegeta turned a crazy eyed glare on her. “He’ll make it if you want to live.”

“W-we’re treating the bleeding right now! The injections are a concentrate of tank liquid, if he responds favorably he should be ready to go inside in a minute.” She assured.

Vegeta breathed out. “No lasting damage?”

“It’s a bit early to say but… Probably not. I believe he got here just in time.”

At the nurse’s words Vegeta finally turned his attention to Turles, who had been listening in too. “What the hell are you still doing here?” Vegeta growled. “Your business is done.”

Turles had been leaning against the wall, but now turned to face Vegeta with a smirk. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m watching over my beta.”

“ _Yours!?!”_ Vegeta’s hackles rose. “He’s _mine_ , and that means if you don’t haul ass out of here I’m in my full right to kill you.”

Turles tensed, but his smirk stayed in place. “With those injuries? Oh please.” He turned back to watch the doctors work, looking nonchalant. “Though I guess he _is_ courting you too now. I forgot. Too bad that a beta is allowed to court more than one alpha at a time and that the result really comes down to who they _choose_.”            

Vegeta snarled. “Kakarot is not going anywhere with some third class pirate scum like you.”

Turles huffed. “You seem awfully certain of your position Vegeta, but I wouldn’t be so if I were you.” He grinned. “At this point there’s a very good chance he’d rather go with me.” He looked back at Vegeta. “So tell me, how does it feel to be on the same level as third class scum?”

“You fucking—“ Vegeta made to attack, and Turles got ready too, but before the alphas could clash Raditz barged in, coming unwittingly between them. “Where is he?!?” He asked, looking around wide eyed until he spotted his bother; lying motionless, bloody and pale on the examination table.

Raditz took a shaking step forward, hand outstretched. “N-no… I-I felt his ki, I know I—“

“Sirs, please calm down, this is a _medical bay_. If you’re not in need of treatment please exit the premises.” One of the nurses snapped, fed up with the drama disturbing their work.

Raditz ignored the warning and tried to walk forwards, wide eyes still on his brother, but Vegeta grabbed his arm and held him back. “Kakarot is alive. He’ll be fine as soon as he gets in a tank.”

At the reassurance Raditz finally calmed down and allowed himself to be pulled back. He took a couple of deep steadying breaths, and only then did he seem to really notice Vegeta and Turles. “What about you two?” He asked, taking in their various injuries. Especially Vegeta looked bad. “Shouldn’t you be in tanks too?”

Vegeta snorted. “Not before I make this piece of delusional filth understand his place in the world.” He nodded derisively towards Turles.

Raditz eyed the commander too. “So you still haven’t given up, huh?”

Turles shrugged. “Why should I? Last I talked to Kakarot he didn’t seem like he’d made up his mind, after all, it’s not like he’s been given much reason to.” He smirked towards Vegeta, but while the prince growled, Raditz narrowed his eyes.

“You said something weird to him, didn’t you? He was acting off before we left.”

Turles merely shrugged, but didn’t deny it. Vegeta took a step forward, looking like he was about to explode. “That’s it. Either you leave _right now_ or I’m ending you.”

Turles narrowed his eyes. “Oh you’d like that, wouldn’t you? You know I’ve grown stronger than you.” He looked smug then. “Why don’t we take this outside? There’s plenty of bare marshland for me to leave your corpse in.”

Vegeta grinned. “Killing me would be your death sentence. I’m still your _prince_.”

Turles face darkened then. It was true. Even if two alphas were allowed to duke it out, actually killing each other in the proceedings could get the victor executed, especially if the looser had held a higher rank. Vegeta wouldn’t simply back down though, or admit defeat, so that left only one choice… Turles stood up straighter, expression serious but superior. “Fine. You leave me no choice then.” He stated, eyes blazing. “I challenge you to Tvekamp!”

Both Vegeta and Raditz startled at the word and Turles’ declaration.

“Turles, you—“ Raditz started, face pale.

Vegeta had drawn back too, but he quickly regained his composure. “You’d really go there? Fine.” He spat. “But it’ll be to the death instead of first blood. I’m not letting you live after this.”

Turles smiled back self-satisfied. “Oh I have no complaints with that, seeing as how I’ll be legally allowed to kill you too.”

Raditz looked between the two other alphas, eyes wide. “Now wait just a minute—“ He started, but was summarily ignored.

“Terms?” Vegeta asked with a sneer. Turles had declared the challenge, so it would be for him to decide.

“It’s simple. Winner gets Kakarot, looser dies.”

Vegeta narrowed his eyes. “Drawing in a third party like that would make Kakarot the judge over the proceedings.”

Turles smiled and shrugged, eyes still on Vegeta. “That’s fine. He’ll get to see for himself that I am the strongest.”

“Ha!” Vegeta shook his head with a smile. “You’re a fool. If you’d faced me in a regular duel you might have stood a small chance of lasting five minutes, but in ritual battle I am by far the superior and you won’t even last one.” He grinned. “Tell me Turles, can you even handle a sword?”

Raditz got in between the two other alphas and held out his hands. “Okay calm down and think for a minute. No one needs to die. Call it off!” He pleaded.

“No.” Vegeta said, smacking down Raditz’ outstretched hand. “I don’t want to call it off. The challenge has been issued, and I’ve accepted, so it’s done. I wouldn’t be satisfied by letting that piece of garbage go anyway.” He nodded towards Turles who just snorted and crossed his arms.

Raditz looked vexed, but he gritted his teeth and briefly closed his eyes to gather focus. “Fine.” He looked between Turles and Vegeta. “But as witness to the challenge I get to tell you both to fuck off until the ceremony is ready. And that includes not going anywhere near my brother _or_ each other. Capiche?”

Both alphas frowned and looked unwilling to leave. “I still need medical attention.” Vegeta reasoned.

“Funny, so do I.” Turles retorted.

Raditz ground his teeth harder. “ _Fine_. But I’m staying here to watch over Kakarot, so none of you are getting near him.” As he said that, the doctor and nurses finally started moving the beta to a tank, and the three alphas all watched in silence until he was settled.

The nurses were then quick to start guiding both Turles and Vegeta to their own tanks, having overheard the conversation and feeling the tension in the air thick enough to carve with a knife.

When his brother’s two suitors had finally been locked away too, Raditz walked over and slumped against Kakarot’s tank until he was sitting on the floor and leaning against it. He closed his eyes. “Damnit. You are _not_ gonna be happy when you wake.” He muttered to his sibling, even as Kakarot continued to float in the green liquid, oblivious to the showdown drawing nearer.

xXx

Goku came to in a healing tank.

First thing he did was bring his hand up and gently feel his abdomen. It didn’t hurt anymore, and Goku sighed from relief. He didn’t remember making it back, which meant he’d probably passed out before then, while Turles carried him. He did recall feeling cold, shivery and strangely numb, like the pain had been going away, right before losing consciousness… Considering the ruptured organs he’d probably been dealing with, it had been cutting it close.

Through the green tinted water Goku tried to make out where he was, but the blurry med-bay he could see on the other side of the glass was empty and looked like any other. It must have been drawing close to his estimated healing time though, because suddenly a face appeared in front of the glass.

Goku watched the unknown person, probably a doctor or a medic at least, frown at him before she tapped something out on the controls for the tank. The chamber started emptying and Goku waited impatiently for the glass to slide away so he could get out.

As soon as the tank opened he pulled off his breathing mask and stumbled out. “Where’s Vegeta? Is he—“

“The Prince is fine.” The doctor cut him off with a narrow eyed gaze. “But you almost weren’t. Ruptured organs, massive internal bleeding and the beginnings of brain hemorrhaging… If you hadn’t made it back when you did, even the surgery they did on you before you went in a tank couldn’t have saved you.” 

Goku winced at the doctor’s factual layout of his condition. He’d known it was bad, but the adrenaline had probably dulled him to just how much. Vegeta was safe though. He’d made it back, which meant he must have defeated Recoome. Goku felt his shoulders un-tense at the knowledge. “Uh, but I’m good to go now, right?”

The doctor continued eyeing him narrowly. “I don’t know, are you? How do you feel right now?”

Goku shifted from one foot to the other, a bit thrown by the question, but he tried to think about how he felt, starting from the bottom up. Legs were fine, if sort of stiff, his tail was… Bristling? A tingle was running up his back and he felt restless. Like pins and needles the longer he stood here doing nothing. The doctor seemed to catch it too.

“I thought so.” She said. “You’re still in first stage heat, so you’ll have to take precautions for that. Tell me, are you on any kind of birth control or do you know if you need—“

“I’m in heat?!” Goku cut her off. He stared blankly as he tried to reconcile how he felt with the last time. There was some overlap, but he didn’t feel as… Desperate was probably the most descriptive word he could find. He was just restless, like he needed to be doing something, and he was also hungry, but mostly he just wanted to find Vegeta and throw down before being… ‘Thrown down’. Briefly Turles flashed across his mind, but Goku shook it off.  

Being in heat probably did explain why he’d gone off like he did back then though, after Raditz had taken him to the med bay last time. He’d been warned stress could send him into heat again, but he hadn’t _really_ thought it would happen.

The doctor cleared her throat. “Yes… This isn’t your first, is it?” She glanced at Goku’s age on his file. “You seem a bit too old for that.”

“It’s my second. But the first time I accidentally went straight into second stage, more or less, so I’m not sure how this is gonna play out.” Goku cleared up.

Strangely enough this seemed to affect the doctor, and her body language turned gentle, now viewing Goku more as the confused teen he was than the bothersome and careless soldier she’d thought she was dealing with. “Okay then. Why don’t you sit down for a moment while I call your family then? Your brother has been waiting for you to wake all night. He only left briefly to deal with some work, and is probably already on his way back. I’m sure he’ll take care of you and help you with what you need.”

Goku nodded and sat down. He did still feel heavy limbed and his stomach was making knots on itself from being empty. He should probably eat and rest, even though his legs felt like ants were crawling through his veins with restlessness.

The doctor continued talking even as she wrote and sent a message on her tablet. “You’re probably feeling restless by now.” She said, hitting the nail on the head. “Tell me, do you know if you’re more prone to seeking battle while in heat, or are you merely responsive?”

When Goku just tilted his head in confusion the doctor simplified. “Do you try to find alphas to fight, or do you let them find you?”

Goku scratched his cheek and thought about it. “Probably the first…” But was that true though? Vegeta finding and fighting him was what had caused Goku to go into heat the first time, but after that Goku had sought out Turles, though he hadn’t been too clear on his motivation for doing so. Then Vegeta had been the one to show up while Goku was wrestling Turles, so that made twice for being found Goku guessed. Then again…

“I-I think I was thinking something about fighting someone strong just before I left here to join the battle outside…?” He remembered watching the sky and the taste of salt and blood. “It’s a bit fuzzy really. I only really cleared back up once Vegeta found me.” And he had a feeling he didn’t really want to remember what he’d been doing before then anyway…

The doctor handed him a glass of water and a fruit which Goku wasted no time biting into. He was ravenous. “You seem to have had a stress reaction that caused you to go into heat. The doctor who had the last shift left a note about it.” She explained, confirming what Goku had already guessed. “As long as you don’t accept an alpha it should fizzle out within a few days like any other heat.”

“No second stage?” Goku mumbled around a bite of fruit.

The doctor shook her head. “Only if you submit to an alpha. If you want to be on the safe side, just don’t fight one. It can be a bit hard to hold back then.”

Oh he knew that all too well, Goku thought glumly. The question was more if a particular pair of alphas would leave _him_ alone… And if he wanted them to.

He definitely needed to talk to Vegeta and try to get some of his muddled feelings cleared up, but right now it could wait a bit. Maybe he’d talk it over with Raditz first?

Just as he finished his fruit, the doors to the med-bay swung open and Raditz walked in. Goku finally realized that whatever med-bay he was in was not the large one Raditz had carried him to after Goku had connected his ki to dying peoples’ and had a fit. This one was smaller and cleaner, and aside from the doctor he seemed to be the only one here.

Raditz spotted Goku and walked towards him, his expression was hard to read and Goku watched him draw near a bit apprehensively. “Are you mad?” Goku questioned carefully as Raditz came to a stop beside him.

“Yes and no.” Raditz responded, but then drew his little brother into a sudden tight hug. “I kinda want to strangle you right now. Never do that again. I thought you were going to die when you entered the battlefield while compromised like that!”

Goku squeezed his eyes shut and hugged back, burrowing his face in his brother’s chest. “I’m sorry Raditz. I couldn’t think… Then once I woke back up Vegeta was there and the Ginyu force was trying to kill us.”

At the time Goku had simply done what he needed to survive, by fighting as he usually would, but now that it was over, the fear was catching up. It had been the first time Goku had faced someone who outclassed him by so much and who was genuinely trying to kill him, and the experience had been jarring.

Raditz cursed and pulled his brother impossibly closer. “How are you such a fucking trouble magnet?” He wondered out loud, voice slightly strangled.

Goku had scared the crap out of him with his last stunt. Raditz had really thought ‘this might be it’ and the notion had pained him a lot more than he’d expected. For a long time the idea that he was simply following Vegeta’s orders to look after Goku had been the excuse Raditz had fed himself, but at that point, as he had listened desperately for reports of his brother’s whereabouts, Raditz had finally admitted to himself how much he cared about his little brother, and the truth of the realization had only scared him more.

Then running to find him, only to see him broken and limp on an operating table, looking like he was already dead…

Raditz burrowed his nose in Goku’s hair and drew in the calming familiar scent of his younger sibling; it had the same notes in it as their mother’s. “Shit.” He muttered, eyes wet from relief.

Goku nuzzled against his brother, enjoying the closeness, and listening to his brother’s heartbeat to calm his own. It was over, Recoome was dead. When Raditz tried to pull away Goku hung on, refusing to let go. When the younger saiyan continued to cling like a limpet Raditz threw a slightly lost glance at the doctor lady over his brother’s head.

“He’s in heat, seems like he’s someone who enjoys contact.” She noted placidly, hiding how she was slightly moved by the two brothers hugging.

Raditz sighed. He’d expected as much, and caught the change in scent too, but he really wasn’t feeling up to dealing with this right now. He gripped Goku’s shoulder and forced the younger to draw back until Raditz could make eye contact. “What do you want to do now? Technically you’re supposed to notify and get an alpha when their beta goes into heat, but you have two of those right now, at least according to Turles.” And according to tradition they were both supposed to stay away from the source of their conflict until the time of their battle, so that only complicated it further.

Goku blinked. “I… What?”

“Turles is under the impression that you’re courting.” Raditz clarified.

Goku made a face. “Uhm. I never agreed to that.”

“Good to know, but it doesn’t really change anything unless he gets that too.” Which seemed to be a lost cause.

Goku scratched the back of his head. “Can we just go somewhere and rest? I… Don’t really feel up to seeing Vegeta right now. As long as I know he’s safe I’m fine.”

“He’s back to being his regular proud and obnoxious self.” Raditz assured.

“Come along then, Kaka,” He said, using the younger’s nickname which their mother had called him as a baby. “We’re getting you to a room and seeing if someone will bring you food.”

“M’kay.” Goku mumbled and once more clung as Raditz half dragged, half carried him out of the med-bay.

Meanwhile Raditz thought furiously about where he could bring his brother while keeping him out of sight. The barracks were out for obvious reasons, it was full of other people, and the ships they’d arrived in were locked up. The place they were staying at had been provided by the planet’s allied population, but it didn’t house much more than the essentials. Med-bay, infirmary, council room, barracks, mess hall… There wasn’t really anywhere good to place an in heat beta, and the private rooms given to the royals were out for, again, obvious reasons.

Raditz paused. Vegeta wasn’t the only royal though… It was a stretch to think _he’d_ be here, but Raditz mentally crossed his fingers and pressed his scouter to make the call anyway.

_“Hello?”_

“Hey Tarble. Any chance you’re on Quatara right now?”

_“Uh, yes actually. My brother was a bit too busy killing people, so I was brought as a diplomat… Why are you asking?”_

Raditz hefted Goku closer and quickened his pace. “Kakarot’s in heat. I’m taking him to your rooms.”

_“…Do you want me to be killed? I’m an alpha too you know; Vegeta is gonna flip if he finds Kakarot there!”_

“I’ve already warned you, so just stay away if you have to. I’m not letting Vegeta or Turles close to him right now. Not with those two… You know.” If Tarble were here he’d have heard about the impending Tvekamp by now. “I’d prefer neither me nor Kakarot be caught in the middle of that.” At least until Raditz had time to explain.

 _“You have a point.”_ He heard Tarble sigh. _“Fine… Just use the build in coms system to call for whatever you need. I’m not running interference for you though. If Vegeta finds you you’re on your own.”_

“Noted.” Raditz stated and ended the call. He hefted his brother, who kept slipping down his side, up once more. “Come on Kakarot. Use your damn legs to walk instead of clinging to me.”

Goku grumbled but did as told, and soon they reached Tarble’s quarters. “Get in.” Raditz ordered while pushing Goku inside and closing the door behind them. He locked it too, though he doubted it would mean much for a saiyan determined to break through.

Meanwhile Goku re-animated from his slump and started poking around, opening chests and digging through them in curiosity. “Hey Raditz, what’re these?” He asked, holding up parts of a set of garments.

Raditz glanced distractedly at them; he was already making arrangements for food to be sent and to be brought up by betas only if the servers were saiyan. “Looks like formal armor, the more ceremonial kind. Probably Tarble’s for some diplomacy work functions, I guess.”

“Huh… They’re all soft and poofy.” Goku said, running his hands over the white poofy pants and the red sash. There were leather and gold parts of armor in the chest too, and Goku thought he’d probably look like a fancy gladiator pirate if he put it on. He wondered if gladiator pirates actually existed.

Raditz could tell what his brother was thinking, and cursed the mood swings which he could already tell were starting. One minute being tired and clingy, next minute being all over the place like a damn bouncing ball. “Put it down before you destroy it. You’re not supposed to just run around in it. That would be weird.”

“The pants look so comfy through.”

“Damnit Kakarot.” Raditz stalked over and snatched the clothes out of Goku’s hands before the younger saiyan could get ideas. “I’m having someone bring up clothes for you. Until then just get in bed if you want to be comfortable so badly.”

Goku pouted. “No that’s boring.” Besides being in just his pants, slashed as they were, didn’t bother him much. He looked around the room, then back up at his brother. “There’s nothing to do in here. Can’t we go spar instead?”

“No.” Raditz responded. No way he was unleashing this menace on the general populace.

Goku sulked. He kept sulking as the servers appeared with food, throughout eating their meal, and then even afterwards, when Raditz grudgingly suggested they play cards or something, Goku didn’t seem very responsive and Raditz sighed. “There are some things I need to tell you anyway…” He started grudgingly.

Goku looked up. “I wanted to talk with you about some stuff too.” He admitted, letting go of his bored annoyance.

Raditz paused. Kakarot needed to know what was happening, but… “Okay, you start then.”

Goku scratched the back of his neck. During the fight with Recoome, Vegeta had spent the majority of the time telling Goku to get away, doge, or even protecting him. Goku knew Recoome had horribly outclassed them all, but he didn’t appreciate Vegeta acting like Goku would be of no use at all, and not trusting him to at least have Vegeta’s back. It was true that Goku had gotten hurt, but he’d protected the prince too. Hadn’t Vegeta realized? “Do you think Vegeta sees me as a warrior? Or more like, I dunno…”

Raditz blinked, thrown by the question. “Uh, what do you mean?”

Goku squirmed a bit and looked away. “It’s just… I talked to Turles and he said some stuff about Vegeta just wanting to, you know…” Have strong kids and not let Goku fight anymore. Goku didn’t really believe it was true, not after calming down and thinking about it, but somehow the doubt still nagged.

“Vegeta’s made it pretty clear that he wants more than sex, even if it took the bastard some time.” Raditz responded, misunderstanding Goku’s concern. “Besides I would take anything Turles says with a grain of salt.”

Goku blushed but shook his head. “No I mean…” Well, having kids did involve sex he supposed… “Do you think he only likes me because I’m a beta? If I was an alpha, would he still be my friend?”

Raditz scratched his hair and eyed his brother concernedly. “I have no clue what you’re getting at. You _are_ a beta, why’d it be weird if he liked that? What do you mean _only_?”

“I’m just… I wanna be sure.” Goku said, gesturing aimlessly with his arms.

Raditz eyed him. “Listen Kakarot, you’re making it all very complicated. There’s a reason we have the term ‘Fight, Bite, Mate’ you know?”

The unfamiliar saying caught Goku’s attention and he tilted his head curiously. “Fight, Bite, Mate?” He repeated. “What about courting ‘n stuff?”

Raditz shrugged. “Half the time people don’t bother. Saiyan’s are pretty instinctual in their choice of partner in the first place, but if it doesn’t work out you can still part ways. Most don’t see a reason to dance around the subject.” He said the last part pointedly at his younger brother, who was definitely guilty of that.

Goku crossed his arms and frowned thoughtfully, he chewed his lip in silence for a while. “…I guess it’s partially because of what happened last time I was about to get married. I pretty much regretted it right after, because I actually didn’t know ChiChi that well. I only met her a couple of times when we were young, and she had become a lot different from when we were kids. I felt bad about backing out though…” This time he didn’t want to promise anything he might regret, or be unable to keep. Goku hated not keeping his promises.

“Well she wasn’t saiyan, or an alpha.” Raditz reasoned. “Even if male betas are an evolutionary booster that usually happens when our numbers drop, and you’re therefor capable of breeding with both alphas and other betas, you’re still more attracted to the first as far as I know. So I can’t imagine your instincts agreeing much with what you were doing.”

Being an evolutionary booster was news to Goku, but he supposed it tied together with why male betas were so rare. Right now he filed it away for later.

“Maybe they didn’t…” Goku mumbled and flopped backwards on the couch. His brother wasn’t really getting what Goku was concerned about, and Goku found it hard to explain. He could have talked with Tarble, but the younger prince was an alpha too, and also heavily rooting for Vegeta, so that probably wouldn’t help Goku clear up his muddled feelings. He was too far from Planet Vegeta to call his mom, and he didn’t know who else…

Something occurred to him then and he sat back up with a jump. “Dilla!” Goku turned to look at his brother. “Can I call Dilla from here? She’s still on checkpoint 8.”

“And _you’re_ all over the place...” Raditz muttered mostly to himself, but tried to remember if there were enough signal stations spread in this section to get a clear call to go through. If he could get out of playing emotional sounding board to his brother’s woes, then good riddance.

“Hm, it should be fine. Do you have her contact information and stuff?” He asked, waving towards the long range communications system hanging on the wall.

“Jup.” Goku bounced over, feeling more energized after eating, but also more restless, like he needed to move. He settled for doing a sudden set of random kicks and flips before starting to fiddle with the dials.

Raditz drew back after almost taking a heel to the face, hands up. “Whoa. Calm down.” He looked around the room. “Imma go over there and nap a bit.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the couch on the other side of the room. He didn’t want to be drawn into a three way emotional talk about alphas with two betas.

Raditz figured he could bring up the impending fight between Vegeta and Turles, and Goku’s place in it, after the beta had figured himself out. “Behave.” He told Goku before lying down

Goku ignored him as he usually did when given that particular command.

The call took a while to go through, but finally Dilla appeared on the screen. She looked confused at first, probably wondering why she was receiving a call from a random trade planet, before her expression cleared up at the sight of Goku and she smiled. “Kaka! Wow, I wondered when you’d call. How has Base One and your new team been treating you?”

Goku waved back with a smile, but then rubbed his neck with a wince at the questions. “Uh, well a _lot_ has happened over the last week or so.” Dilla motioned for him to go on.

“Right, so my new team didn’t really like me, but then I got sick from starvation symptoms and then Vegeta found me. I was told to rest for a week and Vegeta took care of me, which was weird to start with, but then I agreed to court him.” Goku spotted how Dilla was gearing up to squeal about it, and held up a hand to stop her. “There’s more.” He stated.

“Vegeta had to leave before I was completely better, to fight some of Frieza’s forces on this planet, and then right before I was allowed to leave too Turles showed back up and said some things, and now I’m…” He sighed and looked up at his friend who was now watching him with concerned interest.

“Kaka…” She said slowly, wetting her lips. “Could it be you’re calling for alpha advice?”

Goku cringed a bit at the term but couldn’t really deny it. “I guess…” He muttered.

This time Dilla finally cackled delightedly and clapped her hands. “Oh this is just fantastic!” She looked back at Goku. “So what happened? What did he say?”

Goku tried to gather his thoughts and remember. Turles had insinuated more than he’d said, but some things had been clear. “Uhm. So basically he said that he liked me better than Vegeta, because Turles likes me for me and respects me as a warrior, but Vegeta just, uh, wants me because I’m strong and he wants to have, uhm…” He found it hard to get out. “He just wants to have strong kids…”

Goku personally didn’t really know what to think of having children. He probably wouldn’t mind, in theory, but on the other hand he’d never even been close to a baby. He really didn’t know what kids were like. “Turles also said we could go see the universe while training to fight Frieza, which sounds a lot more fun than just being stuck on a space station.”

By now Dilla was looking unimpressed. “So essentially Turles sweet-talked you and now you’re tempted to bolt because you were on bedrest for a week, and that’s just the worst thing ever.”

Goku winced. “When you say it like that it sounds kinda bad.”

“It is!” Dilla rubbed her temple. “Just… Okay, so I’ll be the first to agree that Vegeta is a giant asshole with a boatload of issues, but at least he’s pretty clear-cut about it. Turles on the other hand is manipulative by nature, more so than Vegeta.” She fixed her eyes on Goku. “He’s really, really good at pushing your buttons and getting in your head, and whatever he’s promising you, don’t expect him to follow up in any way you’d expect.”

Goku pursed his lips. “I don’t think he was lying about wanting to defeat Frieza or anything.”

Whether he actually liked Goku as much as he claimed was hard to say. There was something a bit dodgy about Turles. Goku always felt like he was leaving things out of the conversation, which caused Goku to jump to his own conclusions, which again wasn’t necessarily true. Goku couldn’t really read him, and found it both unnerving and intriguing in equal measures. 

“Probably not.” Dilla agreed. The former pirate did hate Frieza and the entire Cold Empire with a passion that could almost rival Vegeta’s. “But I wouldn’t trust him.”

She tapped her chin for a moment as she thought. “On the other subject, I’m sure that Vegeta is counting kids into the equation, but to be frank Turles probably is too.” She watched her friend digest that for a bit. “Do _you_ not want kids?” She asked nonjudgmentally. Alphas were the ones prone to wanting to continue their bloodline with a strong mate, but betas had the ultimate say in reproductive matters.

Goku frowned while he thought. From what Basil had explained to him about it all, pregnancy sounded really annoying to go through with, but seeing as betas did so semi-regularly anyway, perhaps it was somehow worth it? In the end he just shrugged. “I dunno. I never really thought about it before.” He scratched his head. “I mean they’d probably be fun to spar with ‘n stuff once they grew up, so I suppose I agree with the whole ‘the stronger the better’ I guess?”

Dilla stared blankly at her friend for a moment, then facepalmed. “What the hell kind of motivation is that…” She shook her head and looked back up, exasperated. “Having a kid is not like signing up for a future sparring partner!”

“No?”

“No!” She threw her hands up in brief frustration, but then remembered who she was speaking to, and calmed back down. She should have seen this coming. “First of, it would be a long time before they’d be able to fight on your level, especially because knowing you, you’d keep getting better too. So you would have to take care of them, and then train them. It’s hard work, but rewarding too, I guess.” It wasn’t like she had kids herself or was planning on having any in the near future, but there had to be _some_ reason people did it.

“Huh.” Goku scratched his cheek. He guessed that could be interesting too, training someone with a high potential... Maybe they could even surpass him one day? That would be cool.

“Never mind that right now.” He said, not finding the conversation to help him much with his dilemma. “I’m not sure if Vegeta would let me fight like I want to, or if he’d keep trying to coddle me.”

Dilla raised an eyebrow at hearing the word ‘coddle’ subscribed to Vegeta. “Would you let him?”

Goku snorted. “No.” He’d go find Frieza himself if he had to. Or, well… Not while his body wasn’t feeling up to it, or while he didn’t have full control of his powers. Meeting Recoome had been a bit of an eye-opener. Goku had known, technically, that there were people out there even stronger than Vegeta, but truthfully speaking he’d found it a bit hard to imagine. If Frieza was many times stronger than Recoome, then… Yea, Goku would definitely need more training. He’d been taking it too lightly, he saw that now.

“Well what’s the problem then?” Dilla asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. “If he ‘coddles’ you, as you put it, then he definitely cares about you, and assuming you press your own agenda through with whichever of them anyway, why not just go with the one who you like the best?”

“So Vegeta?”

Dilla smirked. “You said that, not I.”

Goku realized the Freudian slip and blushed while looking down. Dilla laughed at him. “Guess you got your answer, huh?”

“Yea…” Goku mumbled, embarrassed by how quickly he’d jumped to saying Vegeta’s name. Was this the ‘instinct’ Raditz had talked about? “I guess I’m just sorta worried because I’m I heat right now.”

“Again?!” Dilla exclaimed. “That’s way too soon.”

“Stress reaction.” Goku sighed. “My hormones never had a chance to come down after the first time, so here I am.” He gestured despondently to himself and the room he was locked in. He’d been warned about this before even leaving Base One, so he only had himself to blame. 

“Yikes.” Dilla grimaced. “Well good luck with that. Definitely don’t go through second stage on your own again though.”

“Don’t plan to.” Goku muttered. A part of him wanted to act on his heat, and another wanted to let it pass and fizzle out. It was a battle between mind, heart and instinct, and normally he’d have gone with the two last, so the hang up annoyed him. Even if he rationally knew why he was hesitating.

Whatever he chose it wouldn’t involve another week of solo misery though.   

Dilla turned her head suddenly when someone called her name from her side of the screen. “…I’ll be right there!” She told whoever it was, before refocusing on Goku. “Listen, you kinda called me during my work hours, so I have to go. But call me again once you figure yourself out, or before, if you need someone to talk with.”

“Okay... Thanks for listening. See ya!”

The call was ended and Goku slumped back in the chair he had chosen. It was a big odd construction where, instead of springs, the upholstery was filled with water. It felt a bit like lying on a pool bed. In general the room seemed to have an aquatic theme, which fit in with all the water outside. Goku kicked his legs distractedly. “Hey Raditz? Where do you think Vegeta is right now?”

“Not telling you.” The older saiyan grumbled. He’d been listening in to the conversation, call him nosy so what, and he knew his brother wouldn’t control himself if given half the chance to act out. It was like trying to tell a hyper puppy to sit still and not bite: Practically impossible unless you had treats.

“You’re mean.” Goku pouted. “What if I’ve decided I want to see him after all?”

Raditz swung his legs over the edge of the couch and sat up. “Then there’d still be something I need to tell you.”

Goku perked up. “Oh right, I’d already forgotten. What’s up?” He asked easily.

Raditz got up while running a hand through his wild mane of hair. Goku was sitting in his water chair and was watching him curiously. “…Is it bad?” Goku asked, starting to sound a bit worried.

“You could say that.” Raditz walked a couple of frustrated circles around the room while gathering his thoughts before settling down in front of Goku. “While you were still in the tank, Turles challenged Vegeta to Tvekamp. It’s the only way he saw a chance to kill Vegeta without legal repercussions.”

Goku sprang up from the chair, eyes wide. “What—!?”

Raditz held up a hand to stop him. “I know. Vegeta didn’t have to agree, but of course he did so anyway, because of his pride. Refusing such a challenge wouldn’t reflect well on him after all.”

“But he could die!” Goku argued. “Why would he agree to something like that?”

“If someone strong, who’d slighted you more than once, challenged you to battle, would you just walk away?” Raditz asked.

Goku opened his mouth to retort, but then slowly closed it again and actually considered it. “…I wouldn’t. I’d accept.” He admitted grudgingly.

“Yea, I figured.” Raditz said. “Besides that Vegeta was the one who suggested fighting ‘to the death’.”

Goku frowned at those news, but slowly sat down again, hands fisted on his lap. “So what is it? This Tvekamp thing.”  

“Tvekamp.” Raditz started, “Is a ritual form of battle called upon when honor has been damaged or when a conflict can’t be resolved by talking, or even fighting it out by normal means. It’s legally binding too.”

“Meaning?” Goku wondered. “How does it work? Isn’t it just like a duel?”

“Sort of.” Raditz allowed, brows furrowed and looking for the right words. “It’s… More serious. It’s a ritual too, and the result is as said legally binding. You can’t fight about the same thing again after the match is over; you have to accept the result. It has to be public, and it’s only fought with bare hands or weapons… It’s actually meant to discourage two warring saiyans from killing each other, but not if you choose ‘to the death’ instead of until first blood or knock out.” He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. “Even if you survive, losing is a great dishonor. Sometimes the outcome is that the looser gets banished, because they have been deemed unworthy in the eyes of the gods, or just their disappointed family.”

Goku’s eyes widened. “Whoa.”

“Exactly.” Raditz grumbled.

They fell into silence then, as Goku digested the information. He had guessed from the alphas’ behaviors when they were fighting Recoome that they’d do something like fight each other again, but Goku had expected to find out what he wanted first, and then talk to Vegeta, which would have made the whole point moot, at least if their fight was about what he thought it was.

“They’re fighting about me, aren’t they?” He asked, voice flat.

“Yea.” Raditz admitted tiredly.

Goku crossed his arms and frowned. “I don’t get it. Isn’t the beta usually the one who fights and chooses? Can’t I just fight them both? I didn’t agree to being a prize or whatever.”

Raditz shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that... Not anymore. At this point you probably wouldn’t be able to control yourself with either of them, since you’re an idiot and actually seem to somewhat like them both, so that leaves the alphas to figure it out amongst themselves. Theoretically you can refuse the winner but…”

Goku growled. “That doesn’t give them the right to do stupid stuff like this when I’m unconscious! If they’d actually bothered to talk to me then I could have just told them!”

Raditz held up his hands to calm his brother. “I know! Trust me, I don’t find it smart either… But to be a little fair, you didn’t seem very sure before you talked with Dilla.”

“I…” Goku bit his lip and turned his head away. It was true he hadn’t felt sure, but that didn’t mean he’d have agreed to something like a death match being the solution. He’d only wanted time to think; that was hardly too much to ask. “Can’t we stop them somehow? I don’t want anyone to die.”

Raditz shook his head. “At this point it would be dishonorable to do so, and besides, I doubt there’s anything that could stop them even if it wasn’t.” He ran a hand through his long hair. “We all used to be on the same team as kids you know, years and years ago before Frieza turned on us. Of course it didn’t last long, with me and Turles quickly falling behind a prodigy like Vegeta even though he was the youngest, but even back then they didn’t like each other. If anything this is just the final drop.” Raditz told his brother, who frowned worriedly at him in response.

Raditz sighed. “At this point you’ll have to go along with it and hope for the best.”

“No way.” Goku responded promptly.

Raditz growled. “Damnit Kakarot, don’t be difficult about this. Just… Please, okay? It’s a really old and time honored tradition, and if you do something to fuck it up you’ll not only hurt yourself, but me and our family, even Vegeta, too.”

“But—“ Goku bit his lip. He didn’t understand it, and he didn’t like it, but Raditz made it sound like it was really important and all tied up with honor and saiyan culture. Goku sort of understood the importance of respecting tradition when it came to martial art battles, but this seemed like it was a whole other level. “…What would I have to do?” He muttered reluctantly, at least wanting to hear his brother out.

Raditz let out a relieved sigh. “Seeing as you’re ‘the prize’ as you put it, you’re also made the judge. It’s mostly a ceremonial position though. In reality you just have to watch.”

Goku clenched his fists and kept his eyes fixed on his lap. Just watching… He probably wouldn’t be able to do it, not if it looked like Vegeta would…

“Okay, I understand.” He said. And he did too, but that didn’t mean he was going to just accept it. There had to be something he could do.

Raditz stood up, relieved by his brother’s apparent cooperation. “Okay good. I have to go oversee some things now, it falls to me as your family, but I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere, got it? Stay.” He ordered. Raditz wasn’t sure if it had been done yet, but the elder council on their planet would have to be informed of the Tvekamp. They’d probably get some sort of long distance recorder sat up to send the fight back to Base One, and then further along to Planet Vegeta. There’d be a small time delay, but no one would complain if the alternative was missing the fight. Tvekamp wasn’t really fought much outside of the first class and the elite, but Raditz remembered once seeing one as a child. It had left an impression with all the prompt and flair put into it. This one probably wouldn’t be as dressed up, given the circumstances, but it would still have to be proceeded over by the elders, even if long distance.

Goku just sank back into his chair and sulked.

Raditz watched him apprehensively for a moment, but then just sighed and left.

Goku sat behind, arms crossed and frowning. He knew what Raditz had said, but he felt he should try and stop it now anyway. Could he stop it? Vegeta seemed to want the fight, but Goku didn’t want anyone to _die_. Perhaps telling Turles to leave would work… But then again, the commander would probably refuse, and lead them right back to the start. So far Turles hadn’t seemed to catch a hint, and Goku doubted that would change now, especially if the Tvekamp had started out as his idea. He pursed his lips.

…Maybe they’d give up on their death match if Goku could just fight them both and then—He shook his head. No. Both Vegeta and Turles were stronger than him, so that wouldn’t work. It was the heat speaking. 

At this point he felt even more restless, and angry, than before, so he got up and started training. The room didn’t have gravity controls, but simply moving was better than nothing, and it helped clear his mind. He knew part of the nervous energy he felt was because of the natural temporary power boost which happened to all betas when they went into heat, but he didn’t think it was bad enough that he couldn’t try and train his ki control. So, giving that he had nothing else to do, that was exactly what he did.

Goku didn’t know for how long he trained, but at the end, when he sat on the floor covered in sweat and exhausted, he’d discovered something curious. Goku wiped the sweat of his forehead. He should probably take a small breather and try out his new discovery again, just to be sure, but once he had, he would go find Vegeta, regardless of what Raditz said, and try to get this whole mess fixed.

Somehow.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Best reasons to have a baby Goku, best reasons…
> 
> Look up the word “Persistent” in the dictionary and you’ll find a picture of Turles. He’d argue it’s one of his better qualities. Of course that says nothing good for his bad ones…
> 
> Still sick, but I only needed to write the end and edit this, so you get a chapter anyway. Whoooo.... Can I be better now already?


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agni Kai abridged.  
> Goku gets to dress up and doesn't appreciate it.

Goku didn’t manage to go find Vegeta. Someone had had the foresight to put guards in front of his door, and when Goku tried to leave he was summarily stopped by two stern looking women who politely “requested” that he stayed in his room. If there was one thing Goku had learned from the females he’d come into contact with during his upbringing, it was that you didn’t argue when they took that particular tone of voice. So Goku went back into his room. He would have tried the windows next, but unfortunately, there weren’t any.

Foiled in his escape ventures he stalked circles around the room like a caged tiger while biting his thumb.

He didn’t have to wait for company long though. Just fifteen minutes later a couple of servants and his brother showed up. Raditz eyed him. “Why are you all sweaty? Go take a shower. You’re getting changed.”

Goku curiously eyed the clothes the servants had brought, but didn’t argue and went to clean up.

He did think about complaining once it came time to put it on though and Goku realized just how the outfit was put together. “I won’t be able to move in this!”

The under piece was a white tunic like thing with gold trims reaching his thighs, but the outer part was a really long semi-circular piece of rich red fabric, also trimmed with patterned edges of gold. He had no idea how to even put it on. 

Raditz ignored him and stole Goku’s towel from around his waist. “It’s a toga. You’re not meant to fight in it. Just sit and look pretty.” He roughly pulled the tunic over Goku’s head.

“I don’t wanna!”

“Well tough.” Raditz picked up the cloth and started draping it around Goku’s body. It had to be folded and draped just right, and fastened with a belt. It was very pretty, but meant for ceremony, not battle. Once he was done Raditz stood back, hands resting on his sides, and looked at his work. “Eh, you’ll do.” Kakarot was actually a vision dressed in white, red and gold, his dark hair only adding to the effect, but Raditz would rather croak than admit it.

Goku lifted his arms apprehensively and looked down himself while slowly turning around in a circle to test his mobility. “How long do I have to stay like this?”

“Until they’re done fighting.” The Tvekamp ceremony had been pretty hastily put together, and corners had been cut, but apparently someone had thought it was a good idea to dress up the ‘prize’ all pretty.

Goku fiddled with the hem of the toga. “Raditz, are you _completely sure_ can’t we get this called off somehow? If I talked to Vegeta…”

Raditz shook his head. “I already told you. Doing so now would be dishonorable.” He pointed at Goku. “You need to remember that too. You don’t shit on tradition. Not even you. So don’t do anything weird.”

Goku frowned. He knew it was important to respect traditions, but this one he really didn’t like. Knowing he wouldn’t get further with his brother though, Goku just pouted and pulled a final time on his tunic sleeve. It would probably be comfortable enough to sit around in, but—“Couldn’t I wear the armor thing instead? The one from the chest?”

“No.” Well, he probably could have, but this was more formal and better suited for the situation. Plus it might restrict his brother’s movements if he tried anything weird, which made Raditz a fan of it out of sheer principle.

“Now stop complaining. Those are royal robes you’re wearing, try to look like you don’t hate it.” They had been the only set lying around, supposedly. Privately Raditz thought it was Vegeta making a roundabout statement of possession, but whatever.

Goku sighed and let it go. He’d make do. “Fine. Can we go now?”

Raditz opened the door. “Yea, just don’t trip.”

The complexly draped toga was indeed long, reaching past Goku’s ankles, and would be terribly easy to trip in, so he minded his brother’s words and moved carefully as they walked towards where the ceremony was supposed to be held.

It turned out to be outside. Despite the normally rainy conditions on the planet, the sky was clear and the yellow sun shone down brightly, an almost cheerful, and as such jarring, contrast to what was supposed to take place.

A wide plaza in front of the main barracks had been cleared from weapons and vehicles, the flagstones swept, and torches put up. People were gathered around the fire and sun lit square and they all watched Goku intensely as Raditz led him towards a raised platform, covered in seating pillows and circled by more torches, and guided Goku to sit down.

Once he was seated, Goku looked questioningly up at his brother. “Now what?”

“Now you shut up, look serious, and wait.”

Goku pursed his lips and looked back out at the plaza while he clenched and unclenched his hands restlessly. The sun was already starting to bake his black haired head, and while his clothes were made from natural fibers and finely woven, the material was heavy. He tried to settle more comfortably. He didn’t feel like sitting around waiting any longer, but he didn’t complain, seeing as there was nothing to be done about it. He cursed that he hadn’t managed to find Vegeta in time. Not that it would have probably helped much but… To distract himself he looked around his own corner of the plaza and spotted a bunch of serious looking saiyans standing close to the platform where Goku sat. Judging by their armor, they were all high ranking.

Raditz was still standing next to him, stance firm and arms crossed, so Goku poked his thigh to get his attention. “Who’re they?” He asked, tilting his head towards the grim faced bunch.

Raditz glanced towards them. “Vegeta’s generals and some other superior officers. Most of them were already here, but some hauled ass to get here on time for the show.” He muttered the last part derisively.

“Hey, Tarble’s there too!” Goku exclaimed as the younger prince appeared and took a stand next to the generals.

“Obviously. It’s not like he’s gonna miss his brother’s Tvekamp.”

Tarble looked pale, and he kept shifting from one leg to the other. His eyes flitted about and finally his gaze landed on Goku and Raditz. He started towards them, making excuses as he bumped into the other officers, but finally he squeezed through the crowd and made it up on the platform where he crouched down next to Goku. “How did this happen?” He hissed lowly, face tense. “I haven’t been able to see Vegeta at all.” The ‘to talk him out of it’ was implied.

Goku sighed and slumped. “It’s stupid. They’re fighting over me, or who gets to court me I guess. Raditz says they’ve been building up to it for a while though.”

Tarble sat down completely and pulled on his hair. “Damnit… What the hell is Vegeta thinking? We can’t afford to lose one of our most powerful commanders just because of his personal issues.”

“More like _personality_ issues.” Raditz mumbled.

Goku reached over to grasp Tarble’s hand. It was just as much to calm down himself. “What if Vegeta doesn’t win?” Turles did feel a little stronger… Had he managed to find another fruit, or had he been stronger all the time and hiding it? Goku didn’t understand why he would. In any case it worried him.

Tarble squeezed his hand back. “I-It’ll be fine. This isn’t like a normal fight. There are no flying or energy attacks allowed; they’re using swords, and Vegeta’s really well trained in many types of combat. It’ll be fine. Totally.”

“You don’t sound like you believe that.” Goku muttered tensely, eyes downcast. “What if I just… Told them to stop? I’m the judge right?” Even though no one had explained it properly to him. Raditz said he was just supposed to watch, but…

Tarble winced. “You’re not supposed to intervene until a clear victor has been decided.”

“Well that’s news to me. Could someone please explain what I’m supposed to be doing then already?” Goku snapped.

“You didn’t explain Raditz?” Tarble asked, looking up at the tall saiyan with one eyebrow lifted.

Raditz winced. “Uuh, no. Sort of?” He hadn’t wanted to give his brother ideas.

Tarble shook his head and sighed before refocusing on Goku. “I’m sorry about that. Anyway, to simplify, the battle is decided when one of them receives a killing blow or is rendered completely unable to fight. Only then can you call out who the victor is.”

Goku clenched the toga cloth with his free fist. “So it could end in knockout?”

Tarble bit his lip. “…Technically, but I doubt either of them would let it.”

Goku nodded his head and freed his hand from the fabric to rub his chin thoughtfully. “ _Not before the victor has been made clear_ …” He muttered lowly to himself, eyes unfocused but sharp as he thought.

Raditz glanced down at his brother. “Please don’t be plotting anything.”

Goku snapped out of his musings and looked up with a guileless smile. “I’m not.”

“Yea, right.” Raditz retorted, eyes narrowed. It seemed like he would have to pay close attention to his brother.

Tarble pulled on Goku’s hand. “Turles closest subordinates just appeared and the plaza is pretty much stuffed. I think it’s starting in a moment.”

Goku looked forward again, out at the plaza where the fight would happen. “Right, I’m ready too.”

 

xXx

 

The ceremonial blade was curved like a new moon and wickedly sharp. Vegeta ran a finger along the gleaming metal of the sword before sheeting it and fastening it at his hip. Then he hefted his shield and stood up straight, ready to enter the plaza. He had forgotten how heavy these old weapons were, made long before the new lightweight materials they used now were even invented, but even then his blood was boiling. He looked forward to fighting Turles and finally giving the smug pirate the beating he deserved. He’d never imagined that it would happen like this, but… Vegeta shook his head and focused. There was no reason to be nervous, tradition and ritual or not. A fight was a fight, and Kakarot would be watching.

Vegeta smirked as he thought of the beta. He was curious how the younger saiyan would react to watching the battle. Awe at Vegeta’s powers was to be expected, but would he cheer too? Call out the name of the one he favored? The look on Turles face then would be priceless.

A gong sounded from outside; the signal for the challenged fighter to enter the ring. Vegeta stepped forwards.

Outside the noon time sun shone scaldingly down from right above, but though he squinted Vegeta refused to cover his eyes. He faced straight ahead as the people in the audience cheered his name and his title, calling for their prince, calling his favor from the Gods.

Out the corner of his eye Vegeta could see that not only saiyans had gathered. Many of their alien allies were there too, further away from the front but still. Dignitaries from Planet Quatara were seated behind the saiyan generals, probably there to oversee the spectacle happening on their planet. Their tentacles continued to freak Vegeta out. They were too worm-like.

Before he could search out the face of the only spectator he really cared about, the gong sounded again, and Vegeta snapped his head around to re-focus on the opposite end of the square making up the arena. Turles stepped outside, smirk in place and one arm raised; declaring himself the victor in advance. He was dressed in the same gladiatorial outfit that Vegeta was, aside from the leather strip skirt and the golden metal cuffs, their chests were bared and gleaming. There was no reason for armor in this kind of fight.

Much to Vegeta’s surprise there were people calling out the commander’s name too, despite the fact that he had challenged their _prince_ for his rightful mate. It made Vegeta’s blood boil and a vein in his temple throb. Perhaps they saw it as bravery and daring, but Vegeta saw nothing but a fool.

After looking around at his admirers Turles faced ahead and locked eyes with his opponent, grinning like he’d already won something. Vegeta sent him a mocking smirk back. Oh he was angry, no doubt, but Vegeta looked forward to seeing the other man on the ground and bleeding out too much to feel completely humorless.

The master of ceremonies stepped forward then, heavy robes dragging against the ground, and raised his staff as he began the speech. “Today a battle of blood will be waged between these two alphas. The challenger, Turles, third class, against Vegeta, prince of all saiyans. A fight to the death for honor, pride, and the right to court the beta Kakarot, third class.”

At the mention of the beta’s name Vegeta finally looked to the side and sought him out. He wasn’t hard to spot. There he was, sitting among scattered silk pillows, back straight. He was draped in white and red with gold accents, and his hair was so dark it seemed to absorb the sunlight while his pale skin reflected it. Vegeta thought Kakarot looked like a god, like Luzh himself having ascended to watch a battle in his name. When Vegeta’s eyes finally reached Kakarot’s face, the impression only became stronger. The beta’s eyes burned like hot coals and the sun cast harsh shadows over the tension lines in his expression.

Kakarot looked absolutely pissed.

Vegeta frowned, jarred from his appreciation of the beta’s appearance in the royal robes by the look on his face. There was no reason, as far as Vegeta could see, why Kakarot should be angry. Had Raditz done something?

But no. Kakarot was definitely glaring at him and Turles. How odd.

The unexpectedness of seeing anger instead of excitement threw Vegeta off enough that he missed some of the ceremony master’s speech. “—as such we call upon Ludz, overseer of dedication, affection and promises, but invoke his second nature. Oh Ludz! God of retribution, destruction, rage and death. May you look mildly on the victor of this fight! May Musul guide your hand to judge fairly! May—“    

Vegeta tuned out again. He knew this part. Ludz might be depicted as a beta, but he was the god of wrath, so you had to call upon his daughter Musul, the goddess of judgement and honor, to temper the stronger god. Vegeta had never given much for religion, and neither had his father. Actually very few saiyans cared, paradoxically enough seeing as they did have one, but if nothing else Vegeta had always respected the warriors of old, whose myths had survived until they were praised as gods. That kind of legacy he could understand at least.

Whatever was bothering Kakarot could wait. Maybe Vegeta had just read him wrong, and it was simply worry mixed with battle lust. Yes, that made more sense. After all, he was in heat and there was no reason why the beta should be upset with this battle. If anything he should be honored to have a Tvekamp fought for him; that was the sort of thing which inspired sagas.

The master of ceremony was finishing up. “—And if not, then cast them out, their names forgotten in the vastness of eternal darkness.” He stepped back and motioned for Vegeta and Turles to step closer. “For honor! Let the fight begin!!”

The gong sounded, a hollow sound that washed across the plaza and was drowned in the crowds’ roar.

Vegeta drew his sword, discarded the scabbard and got into a stance before the last notes disappeared. He was pleased to note that Turles wasn’t as fast.

The two fighters circled each other slowly, looking for openings as they both kept their shields up. Dust swirled around their feet and the sun continued to bake down on their exposed skin.

Vegeta’s first endeavor would be to divest Turles of his shield. The sword always seemed like the most obvious thing to look out for, but Vegeta knew from experience that a shield could make just as much damage if not more if used correctly. Turles _had_ grown stronger than him, much as he hated to admit it, and the other man would have more strength and stamina to back him up, so Vegeta would have to be careful.

Luckily for Vegeta, this was a battle of skill more than raw power.

Turles was weary; he knew Vegeta had more experience with sword fights, and was watching Vegeta’s footwork to predict when he would attack. Clever; but so was Vegeta. “What’s the matter Turles? Why so timid all of a sudden? What happened to all that bluster?” Vegeta jeered.

Turles took the bait. He looked up with a smirk “Who says I’m—“

Vegeta attacked. He lunged from below, aiming for Turles legs, shield held almost above his head for the anticipated blow. He felt the vibrations from Turles’ sword hitting it and gliding off. Vegeta grinned. He shifted his weight, away from Turles swords arm, and quickly came up behind him, closer to his other side. Closer to the shield. Turles swung around to block him, shield side first, just as Vegeta had hoped.

In that second Turles shield arm was slightly exposed, and Vegeta took the chance. He jabbed his sword forward, stabbing Turles in the arm, then quickly jumped back before Turles’ sword could reach him again.

Vegeta skidded to a stop a couple of feet away, and listened to Turles curse. The prince watched avidly as blood started dripping to the ground, the tangy smell of it mixing with the oily smoke from the torches. Vegeta licked his lips from one corner to the other and sent a feral grin to his opponent. First blood went to him. “Got you.” He leered.

Turles growled back, eyes narrow. “Just a scratch.” He countered, teeth gritted.

Vegeta tilted his head with a smirk. “Perhaps. But tell that to your split artery.”

As if to underline Vegeta’s statement, more blood spurted out, splattering the ground. The corners of Turles’ mouth turned down and he hissed, but then the commander suddenly smirked. Without a word he brought a single finger of his sword hand closer to the wound.

His shield blocked Vegeta’s field of vision, but Turles sudden, muffled scream and the pungent smell of burned flesh permeating the air alerted Vegeta to what he had done anyway. “You—“ Vegeta stared. “You _burned it_ closed?!”

Turles breathed heavily, and struggled to stand up straight for a moment as he overcame the pain, but even then he was chuckling. He raised his head and looked back at Vegeta. “I meant it when I said I was going to win. I won’t let anything hold me back.”

Vegeta gripped the hilt of his own sword until he felt the carvings bite into his palm. “Energy attacks are _forbidden_ in Tvekamp.”

Turles stood up fully, face sweaty, but smirk back in place. “Only if I use them on you. Using them on myself technically isn’t against the rules.”

Vegeta smiled grimly. “Technically, huh.” He raised his sword. “Very well then. If that’s the kind of fight you want.”

Turles didn’t respond; he attacked.

Vegeta was caught unprepared. He hadn’t expected the other man to regain his bearings so quickly.

Vegeta brought up his shield in time to block Turles’ sword, and gritted his teeth against the impact. But the sword blow had been a distraction.

Turles’ shield slammed into his side and the force of it threw Vegeta to the side. He was skidded across the coarse flagstones and came to a groaning halt several feet away, skin scraped, disorientated and winded.

A sudden shadow falling over him in the sharp sunlight was all that alerted Vegeta in time for him to roll aside. A sharp clang split the air as Turles’ blade connected to the ground where Vegeta had just been.

Vegeta ignored the throbbing pain shooting from his ribs and got up and into a defense stance. His eyes found Turles’, and he noticed the man’s grin. Vegeta frowned, then looked around wildly. Where the hell was his shield?!

Turles, despite not having managed to impale him, smirked at the prince. “Looking for this?” He called, motioning towards Vegeta’s shield, now stuck underneath Turles one foot. The commander grinned, teeth glinting sharply, and kicked it aside, sending it careening out of the ring.

Vegeta stared after it for a second, then turned back, face grim. His defense had just been torn away.

Turles laughed. “Oh what’s wrong Vegeta? Things not going as you planned?” Turles mirth slowly faded and his eyes turned hard. “You shouldn’t have underestimated me. I know you, I know your weaknesses, and how your pride blinds you.” Turles started walking towards him, gait powerful. “You were born into privilege, given _everything_ , and now you want more?” He shook his head. “No. Not this time. Kakarot _will be_ **_mine_**!!”

Vegeta dodged Turles attack instead of trying to block. He moved swiftly and hefted his blade. These swords were sharp and cut well, but repeated blade clashing would dull their edges or chip them. Besides that Turles still had his shield, and close combat would now be very much to Vegeta’s disadvantage. From the way the commander kept advancing he knew it too.

Another sharp swing which Vegeta dodged. Turles blade sang as it cut through the air, and Vegeta scrambled to avoid it. What to do? What _could_ he do, damnit?! Energy attacks were not allowed, flying not allowed, close range attacks were out and if he used his sword Turles’ shield would block it.

He threw himself into a roll to avoid getting gutted, then sprang back up and darted to the side. He continued to dodge wildly, heart beating a staccato rhythm and sweat dripping. Turles wasn’t letting up on him, wasn’t letting him think or breathe. Vegeta didn’t know what to do!—

A memory came to him then. One from long ago.

He’d been nothing but a brat then, flat on the ground once more after losing to his teacher. Not just his teacher, his mother. He remembered her sharp eyes as she looked down on him.

_“Tell me, why did you lose Vegeta?”_

_“I didn’t know what to do!” He cried, frustrated tears welling in his eyes._

_“Remember, if you don’t know what to do; do what they don’t expect you to.” She threw him his sword. “Now, again!”_

A new plan formed in Vegeta’s mind. The last thing Turles would expect was for Vegeta to get close.

Turles was laughing, he had Vegeta on the defense, and he knew it. The commander was certain of his upper hand, already careless with his movements.

Vegeta could use this.

The next time Turles swung at him Vegeta let the blade nick his skin, just enough for a small gash to open on his shoulder. Vegeta hissed and jumped back. It stung. It also got the reaction he’d been looking for. Turles brought his own blade close and studied the bloody tip with a satisfied smirk, before looking back at Vegeta. “Getting tired?”

“You wish.” Vegeta said, breathing heavily. He allowed himself to slump a bit.

“I hope Kakarot is enjoying watching you run around like a miserable coward.” Turles mocked. “Looks like even your pride have deserted you at the end.”

Vegeta grit his teeth. He couldn’t fall for it!

…But he could pretend to. “You miserable filth!” He roared back, looking like he’d completely lost his cool.

Turles grinned widely and charged again. His swing was wide, his body less guarded than it had been before. Vegeta made it look like he was going to dodge, then at the last second, he didn’t. He attacked.

“Wha—“ Turles eyes widened as the prince invaded his space. He’d expected Vegeta to stay on the defensive, not this.

Vegeta moved fast. He grabbed the wrist of Turles sword hand and wrenched it to the side while he used his leg to sweep Turles off of his feet. The commander fell down hard, and Vegeta let him. He took the chance to kick away Turles shield, but underestimated his strength and accidentally sent it flying out of the arena.

Turles got free before Vegeta could wound him and lashed out, cutting Vegeta in the side. The prize of getting too close. Vegeta hissed and jumped back, hand covering his stinging laceration as blood quickly started bubbling out from between his fingers. Shit.

Turles got up and dusted himself off. “So you evened the odds a bit. Congratulations. Still, I must say, you look very pretty in red Vegeta.” He taunted, eyes following the pulsing trail of blood flowing down Vegeta’s side and leg in web-like rivulets.

Vegeta locked eyes with the smirking pirate. “Don’t get used to it.” He smiled grimly as steam started hissing out from under his own hand, then doubled over with a scream as white hot pain shot through him. But Vegeta kept going. He had to.

Turles stared wide-eyed. “You—?!”

“Ahaha ha…” Laughing shakily Vegeta got to his legs again, vision swimming for a moment as he fought down nausea and won. Slowly he removed his hand, revealing the leaking blackened burn underneath it. It was still bleeding, but much less, now sealed from the heat. He looked back at Turles, eyes hazy but smile crazed. “Haa…As you… haah— Said… S’not against the rules.”

“You crazy bastard. You just torched your entire side!” Turles yelled.

Vegeta stumbled for a second, but shook it off. He couldn’t give into the pain. Only _most_ of his lower right side had just gotten the burn treatment, but it had been that or bleed out. This bought him time. He fixed his gaze on Turles and grinned madly. “Well I’ve got nothing to lose.” Either he won, no matter the means, or he died, and the latter wasn’t acceptable. He was the prince of all saiyans, there was no choice but victory.

Turles stared at him for a while, then shook his head with a chuckle. “Your scary resilience won’t be enough to save you.”

“Well see about that.” Vegeta responded, and lunged.

Turles met him in what became half sword fight, half grapple. Vegeta fought viciously. When given the chance he showed no hesitance and kicked and hit as much as he slashed. Fuck the sharpness of the blade, as long as it kept Turles’ sword occupied.

Turles fought back, aiming for Vegeta’s wounded side, but the prince predicted this. When the other man drew too close, he head-butted Turles in the face, breaking his nose with a sharp crunch. Turles cried out and drew back as blood spurted from his nose. Vegeta followed him, letting the red spray hit his feral grin. “Die!”

Vegeta swung his freed sword, the half-moon curve of it glinting as it sang through the air. Turles dodged, but not fast enough.

Vegeta’s sword connected, the commander screamed, and the prince watched as Turles severed arm landed on the stone, still twitching, fingers clasped in a death grip around his own sword.

Vegeta grinned and licked the blood from his lips as he watched Turles writhe. “Guess I disarmed you, quite literally.”

Turles was on his knees, clutching his arm stump and bleeding out. The ground was growing slick with blood, both his and Vegeta’s. The torches’ flickering lights reflected in the pools.

High on adrenaline Vegeta walked closer to his foe. His blood was pumping and he couldn’t stop grinning. He raised his sword and pressed the tip of it to Turles’ throat, forcing the other man to look up.

Turles glared, eyes defiant even in the face of death.

“Any last words?” Vegeta asked mockingly.

“One day, your pride will be the end of you.” Turles hissed.

Vegeta smirked. “Today it’ll be yours.”

Vegeta raised his sword high, aiming to decapitate his defeated opponent. The sun reflected off of the already bloodied blade. Turles glared back, but didn’t move. He briefly thought about making an energy attack and taking Vegeta with him in death, but he was too weak. This was the end, it was over. All he could hope for was a clean cut.

The sword was swung. It connected.

But not with Turles’ neck.

The wind blew through the plaza, causing rich red and white fabric to billow in the air; gold edges blinking in the light.

Vegeta stared wide eyed at the figure before him. “Kakarot… What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Kakarot had gotten between Vegeta and Turles, preventing the latter’s execution. The edge of the sword had been caught by the beta onehanded, between two of his ki glowing fingers. Slowly the younger saiyan forced the blade down, while his eyes stay fixed on the prince’s.

“Vegeta…”    

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m mean, I know.  
> Also still sick, but not in the debilitating kill me now way anymore. 
> 
> Here’s my tumblr if you want: https://thesauruswithnowords.tumblr.com/
> 
> I got the “Just remember; If you don’t know what to do, do what they don’t expect you to.” From my mom. She’s from a military family, ex-Home Guard herself and former prison guard. Also kinda crazy, but that’s redundant. So that’s a direct quote from her.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Fml." - Raditz, probably.

“Kakarot… What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“Vegeta…” Goku pleaded as he forced the sword down. It wasn’t easy. Despite his wounds and fatigue, Vegeta’s power hadn’t faltered. Goku swallowed heavily in the face of Vegeta’s burning black eyes. “A clear victor has been decided.” Goku explained. “Turles is unable to fight anymore; you don’t have to kill him. It’s over.”

“THE HELL IT IS!!!” Vegeta roared, spittle flying. His eyes shone with feverish light. “Step aside Kakarot. You’ll be punished for interfering like this; don’t make it worse for yourself by protecting that filth.”

Goku shook his head. “No. I never wanted this. We didn’t all survive Recoome just to kill each other! We’re all saiyans—”

Vegeta spat on the ground and pulled his sword free of Goku’s grasp. “Turles is no longer anything. Now get out of the way so I can finish this.”

Goku held out his arms, shielding Turles, and looked Vegeta directly in the eyes. “No.”

Still seated behind the beta’s protective figure, Turles chuckled weakly. “You hear that Vegeta?” He rasped. “Looks like I win after all. Kakarot has chosen me.”

Vegeta growled and stepped threateningly closer.

Goku closed his eyes. He was done with this. He spun around, turning his back to Vegeta, and looked down at Turles. “You need to stop.” Goku said, voice clear. “I’m not some prize to be won, especially not in a fight I never agreed to.” He took a deep breath. “I _don’t_ choose you.” He impressed on Turles. “But I _am_ trying to save you, and you’re making it difficult, so shut up.”

Turles stared back. “Kakarot…” He breathed. Then the commander gritted his teeth. “You’d really choose someone like him?! He can’t even see past the numbers on a fucking scouter! You’re nothing but a tool to him!!!” His voice turned pleading. “Don’t forget where you come from. We’re the same. Together we can show them all our _true_ worth.”

Goku briefly closed his eyes. “I’m sorry Turles…” Fast as a lightning bolt he drew back his fist and then slammed it into Turles’ face.

Turles’ body slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Goku watched him for a moment, then used his toga to wipe the blood off his knuckles as he turned back around to face Vegeta.

The prince was looking at him. “What are you doing?” Vegeta asked again, voice a low rumble. “This is not your battle to finish.” His grip on his sword was tightening and unclenching in turns, and the fur on his tail was standing on end. He seemed to be walking a thin line between control and rage.

Goku breathed out and took a careful step closer, hands loose at his sides, posture open. “I wanted to see you before this fight, when I woke up…”

This seemed to throw Vegeta off. He frowned. He’d wanted to see Kakarot too, of course, but he hadn’t been allowed. “I wasn’t supposed to see you. It’s tradition, it’s—“

Goku stepped closer still and reached out for Vegeta’s free hand, clasping it in his own. “I wanted to tell you not to fight.”

Vegeta drew back, snarling. “Why would you do something disgraceful like that?!” He accused. Had the beta no shame? Asking Vegeta to step down from the fight would have suggested Kakarot didn’t think he _could_ win. It was insulting. It was more than that; it was downright degrading.

Goku refused to let go and moved together with the prince. “Because you didn’t have a reason to!” He yelled, eyes flashing. “I already chose you, you moron!”

“You—“ Vegeta came to a complete stop, and stared. Never mind that he’d just heard Kakarot insult him, had the beta just—“You choose me?”

“Yes!” Goku threw out his free arm exasperatedly. “I was never courting Turles in the first place! That’s just something he decided for himself.”

Vegeta blinked. “You weren’t?”

Goku growled. “No.” It was true that he had been tempted... But Turles had been trying to blackmail him into giving up on Vegeta, and badly so. The commander couldn’t say anything about the Fruit of Might without revealing himself too.  Still…

“I know Turles was being a jerk, but I don’t want you to kill him. We’re in the middle of a war, you know that better than anyone, and you can’t just kill one of the strongest commanders we have, not with Frieza still out there.” Goku justified, using the same argument as Tarble had when worrying about the battle.

Vegeta looked at Goku, face no longer an ugly sneer, but mouth still downturned. “That doesn’t give you the right to interfere with a sacred battle. You dishonor both yourself and me with your actions.”

Goku firmed his lips and stood his ground. “I wasn’t interfering. I was judging.” He held Vegeta’s gaze. “You started this battle over me, unasked for as it was. I watched like I was supposed to, and then I ended it. According to my own judgment.”

Vegeta saw how serious Goku was, and couldn’t help being amazed by the sheer audacity the beta showed. “You’re threading on very _very_ thin ground here.” He growled lowly.

“Please just let it go Vegeta. He’s already unconscious so—“

“No.” Vegeta pulled his hand free. “I know you suffer from the same softheartedness as my foolish brother, but I won’t let you infect me with it too.” He swirled his sword in an agile circle and took another menacing step forward. “Now get out of the way before I make you.”

“You can try.” Goku said, voice deep. Then tensed his muscles, clenched his fists, and started powering up.

A tremor shook the plaza and loose stones started lifting into the air as ki blazed around him. His toga flared dramatically as he felt the power run through him, roaring like a wildfire. The force of it made him want to tremble, but he forced himself to keep steady and his eyes on Vegeta. “I realized, after I woke up.” Goku started, voice low from the strain. “That after almost dying, my power had risen again.”

Goku smirked, eyes shining. “Being sick and unable to control my ki, I thought you and Turles were both stronger than me...” His power continued to rise, wind whipping his hair wildly. “But you’re not. I’m the strongest now.”

Vegeta stared, face slack. “How…” He didn’t have his scouter on, but among the audience he heard the telltale beeping of a power reading climbing coming from several devices. He didn’t need it though. Kakarot’s energy washed over him like a solar flare, the familiar warmth now a scalding burn, smothering Vegeta’s own exhausted ki.

It simply wasn’t possible, he thought wildly. Vegeta had been born as a genius and had surpassed his father in power before he was seven. _He_ was supposed to be the strongest saiyan, the only one with the potential to ascend to a legendary form. Not some amnesiac, softhearted fool of a third class!

Clenching his fists, Vegeta bared his teeth. “You want to fight?!” He snarled.

The crowd was in an uproar, shrill voices carrying across the plaza like crashing waves, but Vegeta and Goku both tuned them out.

Goku faced him squarely, eyes sharp. “…Any other time, Vegeta, I would love to take you up on that.” Goku started, voice strained. He glanced at Vegeta’s nasty wound. “But right now I just want to get you to a healing tank before you bleed out.” Slowly his power started to lower from its violent flare, and he stepped forward, hands out. “We both know I could stop you right now.” He stated factually. “But please don’t make me.”

“What then?” Vegeta spat. “You’ve humiliated me both in terms of power and with your actions. You’ve ridiculed our traditions and disrespected your prince, yet now you dare ask for something in return!?!” He roared, eyes wild.

Vegeta clenched his shaking fist. “Say what you will about ‘choosing’, I know you have no plans to mate with anyone!” Kakarot had always been focused on his own strength, on fighting and bettering himself through it. Just like Vegeta had been before he’d run into the damn beta and proceeded to lose all sense. He should have seen it earlier; instead of foolishly pursuing Kakarot he should have ended him when he had the chance. The beta humiliating him like this was the proof.

Goku winced and shook his head, eyes pleading. “That wasn’t my intention at all…” He reached out for Vegeta again, but the prince drew back with a sneer on his face.

Goku’s expression crumbled. This wasn’t what he’d wanted… He didn’t want Vegeta to hate him. “Just tell me what you want then!” He begged. When Vegeta just continued to glare back, Goku hugged himself and hung his head. “…As long as you promise to stop fighting and spare Turles, I’ll do it.”

“Ha!” Vegeta threw his head back, disbelieving of Goku’s promises, then sent the younger saiyan a tight lipped smile. “Kneel for me then. Declare me the victor and bare your neck. Submit to me.” He smirked cruelly at Goku, knowing the teen would refuse and prove Vegeta’s point.

Goku came to a stop, frozen. His heart drummed wildly against his ribs, and his already raised ki briefly spiked. Baring his throat would mean… Slowly he clenched his shaking hands. He’d been prepared for this. He drew in a shuddering breath, then let it out again as he allowed his ki to lower. The air turned still once more, the wind stopped whipping and everything seemed almost unnaturally quiet in the vacuum left behind. Goku raised his head and connected his eyes with Vegeta’s, seeing the haughty expression there.

Then, while keeping eye contact, Goku slowly sank to his knees.

Vegeta’s eyes widened and he dropped his sword. “You…” He breathed. He’d never expected the beta to actually do it. Kakarot had grown stronger than him, so why would he?!

As Goku’s knees hit the flagstones, the crowd grew silent at the sight, watching with bated breath.

Goku kneeled, clenched hands resting on his thighs. He lowered his eyes, took a deep breath, then looked back up, directly at Vegeta. “You win.” He declared, voice clear. “I… I’m yours.” Goku said, choosing the term most likely to appeal to the prince.

After one last challenging look, Goku closed his eyes and bared his neck.

Vegeta felt like all the air had been punched out of him. Slowly he stepped forward and reached out, almost disbelievingly, half expecting the beta to evaporate like an illusion under his hand. But Vegeta’s dry palm connected easily to Goku’s smooth skin, and Vegeta felt the rushing blood, a fast paced pulse and the tensed tendons underneath. It was real.

Slowly he caressed Goku’s neck, gliding his warm rough palm from his shoulder and up to just under his jaw, until he cupped the beta’s cheek, causing Goku to shudder. “Are you afraid?” Vegeta inquired, eyes sharp.

All thoughts of battle had fled his brain at the sight of Kakarot following his demands. He’d never hurt the beta, not like this; with his throat bared and surrendering so beautifully. If he was kneeling like this, then Kakarot hadn’t been lying. He hadn’t kept Vegeta for a fool or led him around by the nose. Vegeta should have known as much, he realized. Kakarot might be stubborn to a fault, but he wasn’t malicious.

Goku opened his eyes and looked back. He licked his lips. “No. I’m not afraid of you.” He responded, voice low but clear.

“Good.” He wouldn’t give the beta another chance of changing his mind. Vegeta shot down, ignored the pang from his injured side caused by the sharp movement, and bit down on Goku’s trapezius muscle. Hard.

“Aah!” Goku gasped and brought his hands up to clutch as Vegeta’s back as the alpha’s sharp teeth suddenly sank into him. He closed his eyes as shudders ran through him, and felt an almost dizzying rush as his body finally picked up on what was happening and responded by nixing the power boost of first stage heat.

Vegeta’s arms came around him, drawing Goku back up to his feet and holding him steady as he shook and panted for breath. The prince unclenched his powerful jaws and pulled back to admire his work. He hadn’t drawn blood, he wouldn’t do that before he had the beta somewhere private and secure, but Vegeta had left a strong set of quickly bruising teeth indentations behind on the younger man’s soft flesh.

Vegeta grinned, self-satisfied, and burrowed a hand in Goku’s dark hair before guiding the still dizzy beta into a harsh kiss. He devoured Goku’s soft mouth and pulled him impossibly closer, but then had to draw back with a hiss as his wound was aggravated again.

Goku steadied himself with his hands on Vegeta’s shoulders, and took a moment before he managed to focus his eyes on him. Despite his victorious expression, the prince was pale. Goku blinked, trying to reboot his brain and work through the rapidly encroaching fog of second stage. “You… Need a tank.” He mumbled dizzily.

“Hnn.” Vegeta grunted in agreement. Much as he was loath to let go of his prize, he couldn’t really do much with him before his body was healed. Therefor he turned to face the minister of ceremonies, who was staring stupidly.

Vegeta also took in the state of their audience. Most were still quiet, staring in a mix of shock and awe. Vegeta couldn’t blame them. Despite the decidedly unconventional end to the Tvekamp, a beta who was stronger than him had just submitted to him anyway. That was practically unheard off. Betas always chose mates stronger than themselves, so if that didn’t speak of Vegeta’s prowess and potential, nothing would. The prince smiled.

Vegeta raised a fist in the air. “I am the victor!” He declared, voice loud.

He was met with a few seconds of silence before the statement really seemed to sink in and the master of ceremonies nodded. Then the crowd started to holler and roar. Vegeta hefted Goku closer and smirked. “Once your heat is over…” He started, voice low enough only for Goku to hear. “Don’t think you’ll stay the strongest for much longer.”

Goku hid his face in Vegeta’s neck and smiled. “Do your best.”

“Hmpf.” Vegeta kept a firm grip on Goku as he started walking towards the entrance. Goku raised his head again and hurriedly searched the crowd until he made eye contact with a dumbfounded Tarble. Goku stared at the younger prince until Tarble seemed to get a hold of himself, then motioned imperceptibly towards the still unconscious and wounded Turles. Tarble stared for a moment, then finally comprehended what Goku was asking, and nodded reassuringly. He’d make sure the other alpha didn’t bleed to death.

Goku managed to smile back just before Vegeta dragged him inside.

 

xXx

 

“I’m taking you to my rooms.” Vegeta stated, as he hurriedly pulled Goku along through the corridors, ignoring the trail of blood he was leaving behind.

Goku pulled back. “Tank first.” He argued. “I can find your rooms on my own.”

“You’re in _heat_.” Vegeta growled. He wasn’t letting his beta run around on his own, undefended in second stage heat, while Vegeta was locked up and healing.

Goku rolled his eyes. “I’m also the strongest person around, heat or not, and it’s not like I’m unable to think.” He was just fuzzy. It reminded him of the time he’d drunk grape juice, which turned out to be wine, and had gotten drunk. Ahh, the downsides of not being able to read labels. Master Roshi sure had been pissed. This was more towards pleasantly buzzed than full on smashed though.

Ignoring Vegeta’s protests Goku led him towards the med-bay instead.

“Fine.” The alpha grumbled. “But get Raditz to take you there afterwards.”

“Okay.” Goku relented. He needed to talk to his brother anyway. Goku had sort of decked him hard when Raditz had tried to prevent Goku from interfering with the fight. He didn’t think he’d managed to knock the taller saiyan out, but he should probably apologize anyway. Hopefully Raditz wouldn’t strangle him before he could.

It didn’t take long for the medical personal to ready a tank for the prince. In the short time it took, Goku held Vegeta up under the guise of cuddling, which the alpha allowed, still high from his fight and also rapidly more delirious from blood loss.

Goku was the one who helped Vegeta into the tank, the alpha growling whenever anyone else drew near. Before Goku could place the breathing mask over the prince’s face, Vegeta snatched his chin and drew him into another kiss. When Vegeta finally released the beta, he fixed Goku with a look of burning black eyes. “If you try to run, I will hunt you down.”

Goku swallowed but looked back steadily. “I’m not running anymore.” He responded, then carefully placed the breathing mask over Vegeta’s face and drew back. He pressed the button to close the tank and watched as Vegeta was quickly submerged in green liquid. The alpha’s eyes closed; and in seconds he was out cold from the sedatives.

Shakily Goku let out the breath he felt like he’d been holding since interrupting the Tvekamp and slumped against the tank. He allowed himself to glide down until he was sitting with his back leaned against the cold metal. Then he drew up his knees, put his arms around them and rested his head on them.

Holy shit.

Goku laughed tremulously and brought up a hand to cover his mouth. He’d done it, he’d stopped the fight without anyone dying and would probably get away with it too.

Before he could get a chance to work through all that had just happened, the med-bay doors swung open and Raditz walked in, eyes burning and one cheek marred by a vivid bruise that was already swelling.

Goku looked up and made eye contact with his brother.

“Kakarot.” Raditz growled.

Goku stared for a second, then tears rapidly filled his eyes and overflowed, running down his cheeks and dripping on the no longer pristine toga; it was marred with blood. He drew in great big gulps of breath and let out a sob, then hid his face in his knees once more and started bawling. It was like a damn breaking. He didn’t know why he was crying, but he couldn’t stop.

Raditz stared frozenly, anger quickly draining in the face of his little brother’s sudden breakdown. He looked around wildly, trying to make eye contact with a doctor or anyone who could tell him what to do, but most people were already making themselves scarce. Only one woman stayed behind; Raditz recognized her as the one who’d let Goku out of his tank after his fight with the Ginyu force, the one who’d diagnosed him with heat. The older woman calmly looked Raditz in the eyes and mouthed one word. “ _Stress_.”

Raditz swallowed and nodded imperceptibly. The woman left too, and slowly he walked over until he could glide down next to his shuddering and weeping sibling. Raditz hesitated for a moment once he was seated, but then placed one of his heavy muscular arms around Goku’s back and drew the younger saiyan closer. “There, there…” He muttered, at a loss for what else to do.

Goku curled closer to his big brother and continued to cry for a good while. Raditz ended up awkwardly stroking his hair for most of it. Finally, after the material of Raditz’ one shoulder definitely needed a rinse from snot and tears, Goku drew back and breathed in deeply, less shaky than before.

Raditz eyed him for a moment. “Feeling better?”

“I…” Goku’s face briefly looked like he’d crumble again, but another deep breath later he managed to pull himself together. “Yea… I’m not even sure why I—“ He shook his head. It wasn’t like he felt sad or anything... He just hadn’t been able to stop.

“You probably needed it.” Raditz reasoned. “I mean, stress from battle, then heat, then Tvekamp, and finally that stunt you just pulled.”

Goku nodded minutely. That would probably do it… Slowly he brought up a hand and placed it on his brother’s bruised cheek. “Sorry.” He muttered, referring to the injury.

Raditz sighed and grabbed Goku’s hand to pull it down. “Whatever. It worked out in the end. Somehow.” He shook his head, once more amazed by his brother’s stupid luck. “When you powered up like that… Damn. You looked like Ludz himself.” It had been a sight to behold and thrown the crowd into shock. A third class beta was now the strongest known saiyan alive. Even if he only surpassed Vegeta and Turles by a few thousand, it was still insane to think about.

Goku stretched his legs out and settled more comfortably against the tank and Raditz’ shoulder. “I’m really glad Vegeta didn’t try to fight me.” He muttered.

Raditz swirled his head around to stare at him. Since when did Kakarot not want to fight? “Because he was wounded?” Raditz ventured to guess, not seeing what else would have held him back. Sure, fighting in that situation would have only made things worse, but again: Kakarot.

“That too, but mostly because just keeping my power raised like that while staying in control was hard enough. If I’d had to move with it, it could have been bad.” Goku admitted quietly. Without full control, he might have done more damage than he would have meant to.

Raditz blinked, shocked by the admission. “You… I thought you were finally in control?!”

Goku shook his head. “I’m _better._ I think after my heat is over it won’t take me very long before I can completely handle it, but so much has been happening, and I think my body just can’t…” He trailed off, then sighed.

Raditz ran a hand over his face, eyes still wide. “If you had no intention to fight… That’s quite the bluff you pulled then. Holy crap.” They both sat in silence for a bit, allowing the knowledge to sink in. Then Raditz slowly spoke up again. “So… This whole submitting to Vegeta… Is that actually something you wanted?”

Goku smiled tiredly, but reassuringly, up at him. “You don’t have to worry about that Raditz. I had decided on it beforehand…” He wrinkled his nose cutely. “Though that wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined it going down.” He thought about it for a moment, then couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What’re you laughing for?”

“It’s just, last time I agreed to marry someone was during a tournament too. This was different from that of course, but still.” He shook his head, then let his chuckling trail off as the reality of what was about to happen began to sink in. “I’m kinda nervous.” He admitted. “I got what I wanted; no one died, Vegeta is gonna get stronger and he doesn’t hate me, but…”

Raditz looked at him, bogeyed. “You _want_ Vegeta to become stronger than you again?!”

“Well of course.” Goku answered with a frown, as if that should be obvious. “I want both of us to become much stronger, so if he’s motivated, that’s great.”

“ _Great_ , he says.” Raditz muttered. “Sure, it’s just _awesome_ that the _maniac_ is gonna feel personally attacked enough to get even stronger.”

Goku ignored his brother’s mumbled insults. “I’m not worried about afterwards.” He stated. “It’s more… Sharing a heat.” Goku twisted his toga between his fingers and bit his lip. "...What if I mess up?"

Raditz then realised what Goku being in second stage of heat and having accepted Vegeta meant, and briefly fought the urge to roll Goku up in a blanket and stuff him somewhere safe and hidden. ”...I'm gonna pretend that you two are going to hold hands and nothing else for the next three days." He stated flatly.

Goku curled up and continued to look nervous.

Raditz side eyed him. ” Please don't need emotional support on this one." He begged.

When Goku stayed silent and continued frowning sadly, Raditz closed his eyes and searched for some hidden fountain of strength that hadn't been emptied by his brother yet. "Okay. Listen up. I'm telling you this once. Just this. And then we are never speaking of it again."

He took a deep breath and avoided eye contact before continuing. “First off, I don’t think Vegeta expects you to know how to do anything, so just, uh, roll with it.” He scratched his hair. “But if you really need it… By our tail root, we have a gland that's nice when rubbed. Just.... Touch all over. Do what feels nice. Be vocal about it." Raditz felt his cheeks burning crimson. "Use y-your mouth..."

"Where?"

Raditz choked. "I'm not saying!"

Goku pouted and Raditz hid his face behind his hands. His voice came out muffled. ”Use your imagination damnit."

Goku laughed. “Okay, I will." He leaned against his red faced brother and nuzzled his shoulder while he smiled. "…I wanted to thank you. I know that I annoy you and make trouble a lot, but you still take care of me.” His eyes went half lidded, calmed by the familiar scent of the older saiyan. “I know I never had one before, but I think you're a good brother Raditz." Goku said, and smiled up at him.

Raditz froze up. "Oh..." He blinked rapidly. "I--Thank you." He croaked.

Goku sighed, pleased, and settled comfortably against his older sibling. After some moments, Raditz put an arm around him again, and together they rested against Vegeta’s healing tank, letting the stress of the day slowly seep away to the sound of the green water bubbling inside.

Raditz stared into nothing, Goku a warm presence beside him, while he felt how his body was slowly relaxing. He thought back on the Tvekamp. "That was really quite the spectacle though… Of all the things I expected to happen, you managing to break up the fight, show off and then submit to Vegeta anyway, was none of them." Raditz thunked his head lightly back against the tank, eyes unfocused. "Man. To think Vegeta would be the winner at the end of the day..."

Goku looked up at him. “You think he's the winner?"

"What do you mean?"

Goku scratched his head scar and pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Well it’s just… I'm the only one who got everything I wanted. Think about it. Vegeta might have won the fight, but he didn’t get to kill Turles. Turles didn't die, but he lost. I managed to stop any killing, got the alpha I wanted, and after this he'll be super motivated to get even stronger, and I'll get an even better sparring partner."

Raditz stared at him. "That makes it sound like you planned all that from the get go."

Goku frowned. "I really didn't." He thought about the sight of Vegeta walking into the arena, how his heart had pounded and palms prickled with sweat, how trapped he’d felt, unsure if his hastily cooked up idea would even work or backfire horribly. “I was really scared and angry. I didn't know what to do. It was only when Tarble mentioned the judge thing that I finally got an idea." He let out a shuddering sigh at the memory. “I was worrying like crazy the entire time while Vegeta and Turles fought, and I almost jumped in when Vegeta was wounded anyway. Thank you for holding me back then, by the way."

"Eh, no problem. Even though you decked me the second time." Raditz chuckled and rubbed his bruised cheek. “So your point in all this is that the real winner is you?"

"Pretty much." Goku said easily. “But Vegeta thinks it's him, so all's good."

Raditz laughed, smacking his own thighs. ”Oh gods this is just beautiful. Kakarot you wonderful crazy bastard."

Goku chuckled too, and Raditz mushed up his hair affectionately. "You really did look cool then though. Like Ludz himself ascending to whoop some ass."

“You said that before.” Goku noted. "Ludz… The god?" He remembered part of the speech before the fight being about him.

"Yea, he's the god of several things, and a beta. According to legends the Super Saiyan was one of his descendants." Even though these days that was a legend in and of itself.

Goku tilted his head. "I think I heard about that person before... The golden warrior, right?"

"Yea."

Goku hummed. "Still, isn't it a bit weird to compare me to a god?"

Raditz shrugged. “Nah, not really. If you were female you'd probably be compared to Musul. It's just something you do with really pretty betas."

Goku made a face, but then realised what his brother had said and sniggered. ”You just called me pretty."

Raditz pushed him. “Oh shut up. You already have Vegeta for that"

Goku glanced behind himself at the sleeping prince floating in the tank. “…I guess I do.” He turned back around and rubbed his arms. He already had goose bumps, and his abdomen had started tensing and would probably be cramping soon. He hoped Vegeta wouldn’t take too long healing. Despite his nerves, going through any part of second stage on his own again was not something Goku relished the idea of.

Raditz noted his brother’s prickly skin and almost imperceptible shivers. He stood up and held out a hand for Goku to take. “Why don’t we get you to the royal quarters before you get delirious, huh?”

Goku allowed himself to be pulled up. “I don’t think that would happen for quite a while yet.” He muttered, but followed along anyway. It would probably be nicer to lie down.

As they walked, Goku bit his lip and wondered, for the tenth time at least, if he should ask, but in the end he did. “Hey Raditz? Do you think Turles will be okay?” It would keep bothering him if he didn’t know.

Raditz looked back at him and frowned. He didn’t understand why his brother even wanted to know, but it was just like Goku to care about stupid stuff like that. “He’ll probably be fine. Not sure he’ll get full use of his arm back, even if they manage to stick it back on, but he’s not dead and that man is like fungus. He’ll survive.”

Goku breathed out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure what it would mean for Turles to have lost the Tvekamp, but at least he would live. The commander had thrown the challenge for the battle himself, so he’d have to live with the consequences whatever the case. Goku wouldn’t be able to help him anymore. 

When they reached the rooms, Raditz pushed Goku inside gently. “Go eat something, take a bath or have a nap… Don’t stress anymore if you can help it.”

Goku hesitated in the doorway, then turned around and gave his brother a quick hug. “Thank you Raditz.”

“Yea yea, don’t get all mushy on me.” The taller man complained, but patted Goku’s back before pulling back. “I’ll stand guard until Vegeta gets here.” He promised.

Goku sent him a last wobbly smile, then allowed the doors to close.

He walked through the royal rooms, letting his hands glide over the furniture and counters absently, until he got to the bedroom. He walked inside and eyed the bed. It was big, easily enough room for two people… Goku felt his face heat and turned back around. Food, then a shower. He was fine.

His hands shook lightly as he ate his way through a couple of fruits in the living room. Vegeta would probably be healed soon.

Thoughts swirled in Goku’s head as he divested himself from the heavy toga with relief, and climbed into the shower. He’d taken a bath that morning too, but whatever. The hot water felt nice.

Finally he dried off, and without bothering with clothes, climbed under the bed covers. His skin already felt too sensitive to wear much. He rolled over on his side, grabbed a pillow and hugged it to his chest. He tried to calm down his palpitating hearth by drawing in deep slow breaths. There was no reason to be nervous, he told himself. None at all.

Everything would be fine.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awww, Goku…  
> At least he got some stress worked out of his system before this.  
> You’ve probably realised this already, but next chapter is definitely NSFW. *Eyebrow wiggle*  
> Fun fact, my chough medicine, aside from tasting like a berry alcohol shot gone wrong, has a dulling/sedative effect. It’s super hard to focus on /anything/. -_-'


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The smut ya all been waiting for.  
> In case you need something to fuel your imaginations: https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=manga&illust_id=62050317

Vegeta closed the bedroom door quietly behind him and walked through the shadows, over to the bed. The sweet scent of heat was already swirling around the room, causing Vegeta’s mind to start fogging over. Silently he stopped beside the bed and watched the sleeping youth laying there, breathing evenly, but with the occasional shudder from heat fever. Kakarot looked soft and defenseless like that, both arms up, hands resting lightly next to his face. You wouldn’t think, from just looking at him, that the pale teen was the strongest saiyan alive.

All that power, and the potential for even more, yet the boy had no desire to do anything with it. Nothing that would gain him ruling power or might at least. Vegeta found it odd. For any other saiyan he’d have expected an actual challenge for ruling right, or machinations in the shadows. There was a reason his family line made sure to be the strongest after all.

Vegeta moved closer and carefully placed his hand over Kakarot’s chest, right above his heart. The boy didn’t stir.

One sharp ki shot, that was all it would take. The energy would pierce Kakarot’s body, and cause him to bleed out in under a minute. He wouldn’t even have to realize that Vegeta had been the one to kill him.

It was what he should have done, what Vegeta _would_ have done, mere months ago. After half a minute, Vegeta pulled his hand away, a frown marring his face. By now the thought of seeing Kakarot injured, or worse, dead, left a foul taste in his mouth. When Recoome had gone after him, trying to kill him, only to injure him badly, Vegeta had felt fear for someone else for the first time in his life, and he hadn’t liked it.

A saiyan should be practical, focused on battle and on winning above else. But not Kakarot. The boy cared deeply, too deeply, for the people close to him and though he loved to battle, he did not possess any bloodlust. And now he was a weak spot for Vegeta too.

Turning his mind from that very concerning notion as well as he could, Vegeta pulled off his gladiatorial outfit, which he’d gone into the tank with, and sat down on the bed. Seeing as Kakarot had made his way past Vegeta’s emotional shields and had corrupted his common sense already, Vegeta was going to take him, and have him, in every sense of the word.

Vegeta licked his lips and wondered where to start. 

xXx

Goku was woken up by another weight settling on the mattress. He snapped his eyes open, instantly alert, and rolled over to find Vegeta watching him with dark eyes. The lights in the room weren’t on, and the prince’s face and body were cast in shadows. From the looks of it, he had already gotten rid of his clothes. His bare torso revealed nothing but chiseled muscles and smooth tan skin, no sight of the burn and cuts left. Goku took him in, then swallowed and pulled the sheets closer to his chest.

Vegeta smirked and slowly glided forwards, weight shifting, and eyes fixed. “Are you naked already? I had hoped to divest you of the toga myself.” He lifted one hand and caressed Goku’s cheek. The beta seemed clearheaded and not heat aggressive, which pleased him.  

Goku shivered and closed his eyes. Looked like they were jumping right to it. “I’m… Still kinda mad at you. About the whole Tvekamp thing.”

“Funny you should mention that.” Vegeta mumbled as he finally settled fully, on all fours, above Goku’s prone form. He leaned down until his mouth was right next to Goku’s ear. “I’m absolutely pissed at you too.”

Goku froze up, and opened his eyes to stare. “You’re not gonna do anything—“

“Shh…” Vegeta nuzzled his cheek. “I’m angry, but I will never harm you like this… Unless you ask me to.”

Goku relaxed. He couldn’t see why he’d ever want to be harmed in this type of situation, but instead of asking, he licked his lips nervously before speaking up again. “W-What happens now?”

Vegeta pulled back to study him. “You really have no idea, do you.” He mumbled rhetorically, mostly to himself.

Goku frowned. “I know how reboproxion ‘n sex works!” He argued.

“Reproduction.” Vegeta corrected, smirking. “But go ahead, tell me. What do you think I’m going to do to you?”

“Ah.” Goku blinked and snapped his mouth shut. Half formed pictures and ideas flashed across his mind, but really, he didn’t have much to back it up on. What he did know, he found hard to get out.

Seeing the younger saiyan’s wide apprehensive eyes, and noting his silent hesitation, Vegeta relented with his teasing. Slowly he took hold of the sheets and pulled them down Goku’s body, gliding his fingers across exposed skin as he went. “It seems like it’s time for another lesson Kakarot.” He stated as he, for now, allowed the sheets to pool loosely around the beta’s hips.

Then he ran flat warm palms back up Goku’s body, noting the flushed skin underneath. When Vegeta reached his pectoral muscles, he squeezed, earning a surprised little “Ah!” From his partner. With a smirk he started rubbing the quickly perking nipples with his thumbs, just smooth circles of pressure. Goku squirmed.

“Feels nice, doesn’t it?”

Face red and averted, Goku nodded. Vegeta grinned and leaned down to taste his blush, running his lips down the beta’s neck, licking and nipping until he reached his chest and sucked in one peaked bud. As Vegeta continued his ministrations, Goku shuddered from the zings it sent through his body, and unconsciously spread his legs to get closer.

Vegeta noticed immediately, and finally pulled the sheet away completely, before settling in between pale thighs. He chuckled. “Already you’re spreading for me.” He followed the observation up with another teasing path of nibbles, this time going up towards Goku’s neck and biting lightly at his smooth jawline. Their scents mingled this close together, a heady mix of musk and sweetness. “I wonder what else I can get you to do.” Vegeta whispered in his ear.  

Instead of answering, Goku turned his head enough to draw Vegeta into a messy kiss. Vegeta let him for a moment, practically tasting the desperation, then settled a hand on Goku’s cheek to guide him into something slower and more languid. Their mouths moved slickly for a while, until Goku calmed down slightly, then Vegeta pulled back and studied him again. “I know you were waiting for me, but I’m not going to rush this.” He stated.

Vegeta had imagined having Goku underneath him, willing and desperate, for too long not to enjoy it in its fullest. Part of him, the part that was still angry at the beta for disobeying and coming to Quatara, and then interfering with the Tvekamp, wanted to roll Goku over and take him roughly, teeth at his throat. Vegeta knew it’d be a short term satisfaction only though. No, it was better to gentle the beta into it, to seduce him, so to speak. To give him a taste for it until he became addicted.

Besides, there was no telling how long the beta would stay docile, so Vegeta wasn’t going to waste this chance.   

Goku frowned at Vegeta’s words and tried to wiggle closer. He still felt a faint hint of apprehension, but it was quickly drowning in the roar of his pumping blood. His lips were swollen from kissing and his nipples had tightened to hard nubs. Goku hadn’t even known getting touched there would feel so good, but his skin was prickling and oversensitive, he couldn’t get his muscles to relax, and the hypertension was starting to hurt. “I just need to be close.” He tried to explain. Vegeta touching him made everything better and worse at the same time. The alpha’s heady scent clouded his head and caused everything to seem easier, simpler, and Goku couldn’t get enough of it. He needed more; then maybe his legs and belly would finally uncramp. 

Vegeta drew him close, arms around Goku’s back in a firm embrace. “I know.” He muttered, kissing the shell of Goku’s ear. He could feel how tense the younger saiyan was. “Just lie back.” He instructed and sat up, rearranging their legs until he was sitting astride Goku’s hips. “I’m going to massage you.” He informed, then put warm dry palms back on Goku’s pecs and started squeezing and rubbing firmly, moving in slow arches towards his shoulders and neck. Everything would go more smoothly if the younger saiyan was relaxed.

Goku closed his eyes and lay back as told. It was nice to know what Vegeta planned on doing, and massage he at least knew what was. He tried to keep still as Vegeta’s strong hands worked over the muscles in his chest, then down his ribs and up again. The squeezes felt really good. It was difficult not to arch into the touches though. It didn’t feel like when he’d gotten his stiff neck rubbed by a friend at all. Vegeta left paths of fire and strange prickling cool along in his wake, and Goku quickly grew warm under his ministrations, feeling his blood rushing south and pooling in his groin. In-between his cheeks he felt his own pulse as he started growing wet, his hole clenching futilely around nothing. With a small whine he grabbed one of Vegeta’s hands from his shoulder and led it back to his pec, wanting more of the pleasant pangs he got when Vegeta touched him there. Vegeta grinned and obliged.  

Goku groaned as his chest was squeezed firmly again, his nipples rolled between skilled fingers. It felt so good, and he wanted to do something back to make Vegeta feel good too. Goku remembered what he’d talked with Raditz about then, and figured that well, it wasn’t like Vegeta had said he couldn’t touch. Therefor he brought up his hands and ran them over Vegeta’s shoulders, feeling the corded muscles underneath. Goku himself wasn’t quite as bulky, but he figured it had more to do with Vegeta being older than any inability to get like that from Goku’s side. It was an intriguing difference though, and when Vegeta didn’t complain or stop him, he ran his palms down the alpha’s back until he reached his firm glutes and squeezed.

Vegeta pulled back in surprise and looked down at Goku. “Up to something, are you?” The beta had another thing coming if he thought Vegeta would relinquish control.

The younger saiyan simply blinked up at him though, eyes a bit dazed. “You feel so good. Warm.” He replied drunkenly with a smile.

Vegeta relaxed again. It didn’t seem like he would have to battle the beta for control in this. Well, not yet at least. Somehow Vegeta doubted Kakarot would stay so docile forever, even if he seemed pleasure drunk right now. The beta would start fighting back eventually, as all betas did during heat. Not to injure, just to test their bounds and their mates strength. That didn’t mean Vegeta would let him win though.

“I’ll make you feel even better.” He promised, eyes dark, then glided down Goku’s prone body and settled between his legs. Slowly he spread those creamy thighs further out, squeezing the supple flesh. He leaned in and sucked hickies up the sensitive inner parts, causing Goku to moan and twitch, until he reached his goal. Vegeta licked his lips. The scent of heat was stronger here, and the beta’s dick was already hard. Not as big as any alpha’s, but nicely shaped and flushed red at the already leaking tip. Without warning, Vegeta leaned in and licked the weeping length teasingly.

“Ah!” Goku bowed up, getting his elbows underneath him until he was raised enough that he could look down at what Vegeta was doing with wide eyes. “W-what are you—?”

Vegeta looked up at him with a chuckle, dark eyes glinting as he took hold of Goku’s dick and slowly started pumping it. “Ever hear of a blowjob?” He wondered. When Goku hesitantly shook his head, Vegeta grinned, fangs showing. “You’re in for a treat then.” He leaned down, breathed hotly at the tip and felt Goku shudder. “Now pay attention, I want you to learn this too.”

“I—arghmmm…!” Goku threw his head back with a garble as Vegeta took him into his hot mouth, sucking and licking like he was planning on devouring Goku completely. Goku tossed his head and tried to grab hold of Vegeta’s hair to gain more, more depth, suction, anything, but his hands were caught and held down by the wrists, while Vegeta used the weight and strength of his muscled arms to make sure Goku couldn’t buck. Restrained, Goku could do nothing but cry out from the pleasure the older man was subjecting him to.

With the way Vegeta was sucking him off and rolling his balls, it didn’t take long before Goku was close; he could feel the telltale cool tingling in his toes, and the clenching of his abdomen, blood pooling in his groin right before release. Then Vegeta stopped and pulled back.

Goku cried out. “No, no!” He tried to scrabble for Vegeta, to pull him back. But Vegeta chuckled and easily held him down. Goku looked pleadingly up at him, eyes wet. “Please Geta, I was so close, I need—“

“I know what you need.” Vegeta replied with a smirk. He leaned down and kissed Goku roughly, tongue invading his mouth until Goku tasted his own salt there. Then Vegeta pulled back, and before Goku could gain his bearings or beg for more, the alpha flipped him deftly, Goku landing on his front, face down, with an “Ompfh.”

Goku struggled up to his elbows and glared back over his shoulder. “What are you doing?” He complained, growing quickly frustrated by the lack of touching where he wanted it. His entire body was burning and tight, caught right before release.  

Vegeta just smirked back. “Giving you what you need.” He said, running palms down Goku’s back until he reached his tail.

“But I want—Eeepp!” Goku cried out and lost the power to hold himself up, face smacking into the pillows as Vegeta rubbed firmly under his tail root with a thumb. There was something there, a nub right underneath the root, and Vegeta touching it made Goku shiver and moan. The zings traveled through Goku’s body, robbing him from his strength but making him almost convulse from the intensity of the pleasure. That was right, there as gland there, it was—“Oooohhh….”

Vegeta chuckled and watched with satisfaction as Goku’s tail fur started standing on end, even as the appendage grew limp and malleable. Vegeta moved it to the side, meeting no resistance, neither from the tail nor from Goku himself who was busy drooling into his pillow and clawing at the sheets, leaving tearing rips in his wake. Vegeta spread the beta’s thighs more fully, and finally exposed his prize. Goku’s puckered and slick shining pink entrance winked back at him.

Vegeta licked his lips. The beta was already so wet for him, loose and ready to be entered. Teasingly he prodded the overheated swollen bud with a finger and felt the ring clench around his digit, which caused Goku to shudder and moan again. He had planned to go right to the main event but… A small taste couldn’t hurt.

Goku panted heavily into the fabric underneath him, no longer having any complaints about what Vegeta was doing. God, but he felt so sensitive back there, puffy, slick and burning. Like a bruise or bite you couldn’t help scratching. He wanted more touching there. Why wasn’t Vegeta getting on with it? Goku pressed back against the alpha for more, but still meeped in surprise when he suddenly felt something else than fingers prodding at his opening. “Aa-ahh w-what are you—? Mmhh…” He lost his train of thought, and any trace of caring, as he felt Vegeta’s tongue pressing into him.

Vegeta licked and sucked expertly, adding a finger and pumping it in and out together with his tongue. Goku felt himself to go limp and his eyes to roll back, as he distantly wondered if this was what Raditz had meant with ‘using your mouth’. Goku cried out and clutched the ripped sheets as Vegeta continued rimming him for several minutes, the wet sounds from it loud and obscene in the room, mingling with Goku’s strangled whimpers. “P-please Vegeta, it feels so good.” He moaned. And it did, it really did, but he still needed more.

Satisfied with the limp puddle he had turned Goku into, Vegeta drew back and ran his hand across his wet messy mouth. He used the natural lubrication to pump his own hard and straining dick a couple of times.

Licking the last traces of honeyed slick from his lips with a predatory grin, Vegeta then crawled up the beta’s body, until he could bite at Goku’s ear again, something he had already discovered caused the younger man to shudder and whine. “Mmmh, you make the sweetest sounds.”

Goku was loud, having never learned the shame associated with being so. The teen simply reacted honestly, without any pretense or staged noises, to whatever Vegeta did to him. It was almost dizzying. Vegeta had never cared for virgins, and had never bothered to bed one, but this, being the only one to ever draw those sounds from the beta, that he could get used to. There was something gratifying about ruining innocence like this, awakening Goku to pleasure he didn’t know existed and thoroughly ruining him for anyone else.

No one but Vegeta would ever have him.

“My turn now.” Vegeta purred, and grabbed Goku around his hipbones, lifting him up to his knees.

Still hazy, Goku turned his head enough to catch a glimpse of the alpha covering his body. “G-Geta?”

“Shh…” Vegeta hushed him, running gentling hands down his flanks. “It’s easier like this the first time.” He kissed Goku’s shoulder.

“Wha…?” Goku wondered, but then felt something much larger and hotter than fingers or a tongue pressing against his entrance. “Oh.”

“Just breathe.” Vegeta told him, then started pushing in. The beta was wet and loose, but he still met some resistance.

“Arh, nngh…” Goku bit down on the pillow case, feeling the fibers rib and fray between his grinding teeth as he was slowly filled to the point of bursting. He hadn’t gotten a good look at Vegeta’s member before, but he felt far too big. The stretch quickly started burning. “Stop, Vegeta, please stop it won’t fit!”

Goku tried to pull away, but Vegeta growled, bit warningly down on his shoulder and pressed him down firmly, immobilizing him. Goku could do nothing but cry out as Vegeta forced his way inside, filling him completely.

Finally the alpha’s heavy balls came to rest against Goku’s buttocks, and Goku hiccupped and felt a few tears leak out of his eyes. He was going to split!

Vegeta groaned as he felt how tight the beta was around him. Fucking a woman just couldn’t compare to this. Kakarot was much hotter inside, his hole practically pulsing and drawing Vegeta’s cock deeper. “Fuck you’re tight. Feel so good squirming on my cock baby…” He mumbled, drunk from the feeling and the heady rush of conquest.

It took Vegeta a while to notice the choked whimpers Goku were making, and how they no longer sounded pleased. With a curse aimed at himself, Vegeta leaned forwards over his back and grabbed Gok’s chin, turning the beta’s face until he could lick away the few tears that had leaked from the younger man’s eyes. He’d gotten too caught up.

“Shh, no crying. I’ll make you feel good again.” Vegeta promised, then brought his hand around to grab Goku’s luckily still hard dick. Slowly Vegeta started jacking him off, making sure not to move himself, even though he wanted to badly.

Goku concentrated on breathing, but as Vegeta started touching him, and his muscles relaxed, the stretching burn started falling into the background. Vegeta’s hand was deft, rubbing under the head of Goku’s dick, right where he was most sensitive. Soon he had started panting again, heat once more rushing through his body, making his nipples tighten and tingle and his hole grow slicker. Vegeta being inside him stopped hurting, instead the fullness felt nice. Experimentally, Goku pressed his hips back against the alpha, moaning quietly at the extra bit of girth it earned him. Vegeta was wider at the root.

“Oh yea, you want it now.” Vegeta growled. He pulled back, halfway out, then pushed back in with a slick sound. “Take it then. I’m going to fill you up.” He pulled out again and thrust back in, faster this time.

“Ah, aaah…” Goku cried out as Vegeta started moving, grabbing Goku’s hip with his free hand and pulling him back to meet his thrusts.

It didn’t hurt at all anymore, in fact getting filled felt fantastic, though the anticipation he felt when Vegeta’s cock pulled out of him, only to slam back in, was amazing too. “H-Harder!” Goku moaned, and rocked back to meet Vegeta’s thrust.

Vegeta grinned wildly and sped up. He straightened up until he could look down at his own dick rapidly disappearing and reappearing into Goku’s ass, the pounding rhythm accompanied by slick squelching sounds from how wet the beta was, and their flesh hitting. “Fuck yea.” This was exactly what he had imagined. Goku moaning helplessly beneath him as Vegeta fucked him stupid.

Goku had completely given up on controlling anything, and was letting his body be drawn back and meeting Vegeta’s thrusts with no resistance, simply moaning in pleasure as he was filled again and again. Why had he waited so long to do this? It felt amazing.

Therefor it was even more jarring when Vegeta suddenly pulled completely out of him. Goku cried out in protest and turned around, ready to claw the alpha if he didn’t come back and put his back into it, but Vegeta didn’t give him the chance. The prince grabbed Goku’s ankles and threw his legs over his shoulders, before lifting Goku by the hips once more and pushing back in. Goku threw his head back with a pleased groan as he was filled again, and Vegeta drew closer, practically bending him in half. One of Goku’s legs slipped down to the alpha’s elbow, which allowed their torsos to meet and Goku’s dick to rub deliciously against Vegeta’s lower abs.

Goku wrapped his arms around Vegeta’s back and dug his claws in. He wasn’t letting the alpha pull back and cheat him out of an orgasm again. “I-I’m so close.” Goku panted, right next to Vegeta’s ear. The alpha simply grunted from exertion, and continued to fuck him into the mattress.

Goku moaned and mewled as he was rocked back and forth, like this he couldn’t control their movements at all and was completely at the mercy of Vegeta’s pace. He found that he didn’t mind. Vegeta briefly took a second to adjust Goku’s legs, and when he slammed in again he hit something that caused Goku to jerk and cry out. “There! Again!” He demanded, burying a hand in Vegeta’s hair and yanking.

Vegeta obliged, self-satisfied with finding Goku’s sweet-spot but wincing against the painful grip the beta had on his hair. Vegeta had been right, the meekness hadn’t lasted long, Goku was already growling and pushing for more. Vegeta growled back, not willing to be outdone, and upped his tempo.

The faster, harder thrusts hitting his sweet spot dead on was enough to reduce Goku to a continuous “Ah, ah, ah ah!”

Feeling the beta’s channel tightening impossibly further around him, Vegeta leaned down and licked at the spot between Goku’s shoulder and neck, right where he’d bite him. The position meant Goku’s face rested against the exact same place on Vegeta’s opposite side.

“V-Vegeta, I’m co—aammhh!” Goku cried out, feeling his body tense and release in a dizzying rush. His extremities tingled and his insides rippled in pulsing contractions around Vegeta’s girth.

Vegeta pressed close, as near and as deep as he could get, then bit down. His fangs pierced flesh. Goku cried out, then growled and bit back viciously. Blood flooded into Vegeta’s mouth, bubbling out from between his teeth before he started sucking and pulling it down, holding back a wince as he felt Goku do the same.

Goku didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but he’d bitten down before he could stop himself, hadn’t even felt inclined to try in fact. Vegeta’s blood was dark and full, and the taste and smell of it made him dizzy. With a gasp he unclamped his jaws and pulled back, licking apologetically at the bleeding wound as Vegeta continued to fuck his limp and satisfied body. For some reason the blood was already slowing.

The tight clutch of Goku’s body, and his gentle licking of the mating bite, was enough to have Vegeta fall over the edge too. He snapped his hips forward, pressing close and shooting as deep as he could. He kept grinding into Goku’s lax body until the last pulses ebbed out, then slumped down, ignoring the beta’s grumbling as he shifted their limbs to something more comfortable. Vegeta didn’t pull out though, oh no, he was keeping everything inside for as long as possible.

“That…” Goku panted, and licked his dry lips. He’d worked up a sweat and felt thirsty. “That felt amazing.” He closed his eyes and allowed himself to luxate in the feeling of a good workout and following orgasm for a while. Vegeta only grunted in reply.

Then, after Goku’s breathing had returned to normal and he felt their sweat cooling, he ran his hands along Vegeta’s back and rolled his hips. “Let’s do it again.”

“Now?!” Vegeta exclaimed disbelievingly, tilting his head enough to stare at Goku. Or, well, more the vicinity of his jawline, but whatever.

“Give me five minutes.” Goku mumbled, and nuzzled against Vegeta’s temple with a pleased hum.

Vegeta groaned. What had he created?

 

xXx

 

During the next three days, Goku was thoroughly divested of any virginity he had left, and for the most part he loved every minute of it.

It was like his brain had slipped into a much simpler mode, allowing for little to no thought other than staying close to his alpha and getting filled in various places and positions. He could probably have fought through the pleasurable fog if he had needed to, but there was no reason to, so he let himself slip into it willingly.

The only annoying parts were when Vegeta insisted on stopping to do stupid things like eating and bating. Goku went along with the first part, especially when Vegeta had given up on the plates and settled for simply hand feeding Goku bite sized pieces. Goku had fed him back, mostly for the fun of it. The sex they’d had after that had been really intense for some reason.

The bating and other boring stuff, like changing the sheets, Goku saw no reason for and he would wrestle his alpha whenever he got the silly idea to try them. At one point Goku had managed to overpower Vegeta by smacking the alpha’s head harshly into the bathroom wall and mounting him while he was still shaking off the daze. As the prince had blinked his eyes back open and focused, he’d found himself looking up at the grinning beta, settled astride Vegeta’s hips.

Vegeta hadn’t complained about Goku riding him into oblivion after that, but the following shower had been set to cold in revenge.

Vegeta hoped the Quatarians hadn’t been too attached to the desk in the bedroom, because he and Goku had succeeded in breaking it in two. There was also a body sized dent in the wall, not that Vegeta regretted that at all. His eardrum might be damaged from the way Goku had screamed in abandon when Vegeta had picked him up and fucked him against said wall, but still; worth it. 

Goku’s heat broke sometime during the night following the third day, but he slept peacefully through it. Only Vegeta, who was a light sleeper to begin with and hyperaware due to his mate’s heat, woke when he noticed the change in Goku’s body temperature and sighed from relief.

As much as he would miss the closeness and the near desperation Kakarot had shown for him, Vegeta needed a damn break. Betas in heat were insatiable, and Kakarot was nothing if not a perfect example of his sex. Alphas recovery time might shorten in response to the heat pheromones, and they felt the need for closeness too, but there were limits to how long he was willing to roll around in his own filth, and Kakarot _had not_ been cooperative when it came to cleaning up.

As the morning of day four dawned, Vegeta got up and stretched his sore muscles out with a hiss. He had welts from Kakarot’s claws running all the way down and across his back, and they stung and pulled uncomfortably. He should have thought to warn Kakarot about the heat changes before fucking him. Betas grew both claws and longer canines when in heat, small almost imperceptible changes, but quite clearly felt by their partner.

Speaking of the beta. Vegeta turned around and studied him in silence for a moment. He seemed to be sleeping soundly, breaths deep and even. His bared chest was covered in bites and hickies, and vivid purple bruises circled his hips, put there by Vegeta’s hands.

Carefully Vegeta reached out and pulled the partially shredded sheets over him. As much as he enjoyed the sight, he rather hoped Kakarot would sleep through the morning for another couple of hours, and give Vegeta time to recuperate for the aftermath, which could be… Challenging, depending on the beta.

Soundlessly Vegeta made it to the main rooms and called a cleaning crew for later and for food to be brought up. Then he went back through to the bedroom, locked the door so no one would disturb or lay eyes on the still sleeping beta, and went to take a shower.

When he was done, Kakarot was still sleeping and Vegeta pulled on a pair of pants and went to the main rooms again, where he immediately grabbed a bottle of water and started gulping it down. The food had arrived already too and smelled heavenly.

Behind him the doors to the hallway suddenly opened, and Vegeta turned around with a frown to watch Raditz walk in.

The other man stopped short when he spotted Vegeta. “Uhh—“ He fumbled with a small stack of files and a data disc. “Didn’t expect you to be up.” He admitted. “I’m just here to drop this off. Kakarot’s my brother so I’m not affected by his scent…” He started backing up anyway, clearly thinking he was still at risk of getting attacked by Vegeta, an alpha with an in heat mate, family ties or not.

Vegeta snorted and took another pull of his water.

Raditz blinked at him, then slowly relaxed. “So it’s over?” He asked.

The prince didn’t answer, but the fact that he hadn’t tried to disembowel Raditz for the intrusion spoke for itself. Raditz looked him over, searching for the mating bite out of curiosity, but quickly spotted something else.

“What the hell happened to your back?” Raditz asked wide-eyed.

Vegeta’s back looked like he’d been whipped, or laid into with a flay knife, numerous red welts crisscrossing his skin, raised from swelling and some bleeding.

Vegeta turned his head to cast a slightly annoyed glance at the damage. “Your brother. He gets impatient and brings out the claws when he doesn’t get to come every five minutes.”

Raditz blanched and backed up, hands up. “Too much information!” He screeched.

Vegeta snorted and took another pull from the water bottle. “Well, you asked.”

Raditz averted his eyes, no longer wanting to look now that he knew what, or rather who, the injuries were from. “Speaking of, where is the damn hell-cat?”

Vegeta smirked at the fitting nick-name, then gestured over his shoulder with a thumb. “Still sleeping. Thankfully.” It was hard to say what kind of mood Kakarot would wake up in, and Vegeta would prefer to get some food before dealing with him and any after heat symptoms. Some betas got clingy and sweet, but there was always the chance that Vegeta had drawn the short end of the straw once again and that Kakarot would try to rip his throat out if he came too close. Oh the joys of being newly mated.

Raditz winced. “Well good luck with that.” He said. “I’m only here to drop paperwork of; no way I’m staying for the fallout.”

Vegeta put down the water bottle and eyed him suspiciously. “You think Kakarot is the aggressive sort in the aftermath?” He asked.

“No idea, and I’m not staying to find out.” Raditz stated, already inching towards the exit.

Before the long haired saiyan could run off, the door to bedroom swung open and Goku staggered out, probably woken by the smell of food. He was only wearing a loose blue tunic reaching to his mid thighs; Vegeta didn’t even remember owning such an article of clothing.

Goku’s hair was an absolute mess, and his face sported pillow creases. He cast a disinterested glance across both frozen alphas, then ambled off towards the food table, content to ignore them it seemed.

Both Raditz and Vegeta let out relieved breaths.

“Okay I’m out.” Raditz stated, having seen quite enough, and practically threw the documents and the data disk on the table before running and slamming the door behind him.

Vegeta was left behind to deal with his mate alone.

His mate, gods, he had a _mate_. And depending on their luck, he might soon have more than that…

Slowly he inched closer to the table, where Goku was already laying into the food with a starving man’s ferociousness. Vegeta saw his own chance for breakfast quickly disappearing, but didn’t try to intervene. He waited until the beta slowed down and it looked like he’d be less likely to lose a limb from proximity, then cleared his throat. “How are you feeling?”

Goku half turned to eye him while he tore off the flesh from a whole grilled bird, the juices running down his chin and neck, seemingly unnoticed, or perhaps the beta just didn’t care. “Hungry.” Was the short reply he gave.

“Ah, okay then.” Vegeta hummed nervously, not quite liking the look in Goku’s eyes. Right now he was watching Vegeta like he could be the next part of the beta’s meal.

“I’m… Going to go fill up a bath. Join me when you’re full.” Vegeta said, then hurried to the bathroom before Goku could act on any cannibalistic impulses. Some might say he was overreacting, but Vegeta had heard stories okay? And he’d once seen an alpha with a rather hefty bite taken out of his shoulder, which he had sworn had been done by his own mate while on a mission without enough supplies. Betas were fucking crazy when affected by heat in any way, and Vegeta as not stupid enough to risk anything.

He waited seated on the edge of the large tub and watched blankly as it filled with bubbling lightly scented water. He tensed when he heard Goku enter the bathroom too, and whirled his head around to watch him.

Goku was stripping of his tunic, and once he had gotten it off and left it discarded on the floor, he tilted his head inquiringly at Vegeta. “Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked.

Vegeta breathed a sigh of relief. The beta sounded normal. “No reason.” He turned off the tab and motioned for the mostly full bath. “Get in.”

Goku climbed in eagerly and sank under the warm water with a pleased hiss. He closed his eyes and leaned back. “This is really nice.” He was full after his breakfast, and the hot water was soothing his aches. “Aren’t you getting in?” He wondered out loud, opening his eyes to look at Vegeta.

“Uh…” Vegeta hadn’t been sure of his welcome, but given permission he hurried to pull off his pants and got in the tub. When Goku continued to look at him with half-lidded eyes and a docile expression, Vegeta moved closer and rearranged them until the younger man could rest with his back against Vegeta’s chest.

Goku gave a pleased sigh and nuzzled against Vegeta’s neck. He felt a mar in the otherwise smooth skin there and pulled back with a frown to look. It was the bite he’d inflicted on Vegeta during their first time. Carefully he lifted his hand and ran fingers across it. The wound had scabbed over, already more of a scar by now really.

Vegeta caught his hand and pulled it down, lacing their fingers. “Something on your mind?”

“Mmh.” Goku relaxed against him again. “The bites are already almost healed. It surprised me, is all.”

“Enzymes in our saliva cause our blood to coagulate.” Vegeta explained as he started running a hand through Goku’s hair. “Only works for saiyans though.”

Goku hummed and lazily watched bubbles float on top of the steaming water for a while. “Why do saiyans bite each other when they mate?” He wondered out loud. Not that he had disliked it. Contrary to what he had thought, Goku found that he actually did like a bit of pain with his pleasure.

Vegeta shrugged. “It’s just tradition… If you like something, of course you’d want to mark it as yours. A bite works just fine for that.” Some said it had mystical properties that bound you together with your mate in some unexplained way, but Vegeta called bullshit on that. It was a leftover custom from when saiyans had lived more savage and feral lives, nothing more.

Goku didn’t really know what to think about having ‘property of Vegeta’ practically written on his neck, but on the other hand he had done the same to the prince, and quite liked the thought of that. He stretched, arching his back until it popped, then nuzzled back against Vegeta again. “Are we going back today?” He asked.

“Yes, if you’re not feeling any after effects, then we’ll return to Base One.” Vegeta would need to debrief and get an update on what had happened during the days he had just spent out of commission. There would be a lot to do, and he might have to leave on another mission soon again. But… Slowly he covered Goku’s belly with a hand, rubbing the skin gently with a thumb as he thought. He couldn’t have Goku running off unattended into danger, not before he knew for certain if the beta was with child or not. For some saiyan couples it took years to make a child, but Vegeta felt certain that with superior genes like his own, that wouldn’t be the case.

Still, he couldn’t just keep Goku around doing nothing. Not only would the younger man buck against the idea, but he’d probably go find trouble on his own unless occupied. “Kakarot…” Vegeta started, licking his lips. He would have to word this right.

“Mmh?” Goku responded drowsily, eyes closed.

“When we get back… There’ll be a lot for you to learn. You’ll be quite busy for a while.”

Goku pulled back enough that he could glance up at Vegeta. “Learn? Like I’m doing with Tarble?”

“Your lessons with Tarble will certainly continue, but there’ll be other things for you to see to too.” Vegeta ran a hand down his mate’s chest. “Normally, when a surviving saiyan were found, they would be added to a low-level team and observed until we could be sure they weren’t a liability.” Vegeta sighed, and practically felt Goku watch him curiously. “Of course they would have basic knowledge of who and what they were, and anything lacking could be added on as they went on missions... But you were a different case entirely.”

“Because of my memory loss.” Goku guessed.

Vegeta hummed in confirmation. “The amnesia, yes… It made you too much of a wildcard to deploy anywhere, and you didn’t gain much knowledge from living on Checkpoint 8.” Vegeta refrained from mentioning how he had been the one who kept Goku there for an extended period, content to contain the problem rather than fix it. “It means that, essentially, you have no training in how to behave as a soldier, you’re undisciplined, too will-strong to listen to orders and terribly prone to get yourself mixed up in things.”

“Hey—“ Goku complained, feeling a bit attacked.

“Most concerning, you’re also my mate.” Vegeta sighed and rested his own head against Goku’s. “From this day forward, you’re a target.” Both for anyone Vegeta had pissed off in the past, and he’d done a lot while in Frieza’s employment, and of course for the dictator himself.

“So?” Goku wondered. “I’m strong, I’ll just beat them up.”

“Will you now?” Vegeta chuckled darkly. “Even if they come at you with poison, a sneak attack, or through someone you thought you could trust?” He took the beta’s hand and pressed it to Goku’s own belly. “…Even if you have to protect more than just yourself?”

Goku frowned and looked down. He watched their hands overlapping on his abdomen, the sight slightly distorted by the water. “You think I’m pregnant.” He stated, unable to parse the emotion in his own voice. He mostly just sounded flat.

“There’s no way of knowing yet, but you could be.” Vegeta responded. He pulled Goku a bit tighter. “I… Know we didn’t discuss it beforehand, but…”

Goku looked up at Vegeta, surprised by the alpha’s uncharacteristic hesitance. “What?”

Vegeta let out a breath. “Will you consider keeping it?”

Goku blinked, thrown by the request. “What else would I do?” He wondered. He might not have planned to get pregnant, hadn’t even remembered he could for a little while there, too addled by his heat to care, but if it had happened then he’d figure it out.

Vegeta stared at him, surprised by the response. “Well, it’s the betas- your- decision. Alphas get no say.”

“I don’t follow.” Goku said with a frown. “Get a say in what?”

“In whether you go through with the pregnancy or not.” Vegeta explained hesitantly. Among saiyans, a pregnancy was only considered as such when acknowledged by the carrier. No one would say a word if a beta decided to abort, seeing as only something capable of existing by itself was considered to be ‘alive’. A fetus did not fit those criteria, and had no right to lay claim to an able fighter’s body.

Goku continued to stare uncomprehendingly. Vegeta gritted his teeth and elaborated. “You could get rid of it.” He explained, mouth pulling down from having to say it. He wanted that child damnit, and the fact that he didn’t get a say was beyond frustrating.

Goku eyed him for a long moment. Then he relaxed back against Vegeta with a careless shrug. “Well if it happened then it’s happened I guess, so that’s that.”

Vegeta tensed up, hardly daring to believe. “You’ll keep it?”

“Yea.” Goku wrinkled his nose and looked up thoughtfully. “I’m not getting rid of my own _kid_.” He added, sounding vaguely insulted. He drummed his fingers against his belly, unable to say where the sudden strong emotions stemmed from exactly, but in the end just shrugged it off. He’d do what felt right to him, it didn’t have to be more complicated than that.

Vegeta turned enough to pull him into a kiss. Goku blinked in surprise for a moment, but then melted into it. After a few moments, Vegeta pulled back a few inches, his breath still felt against Goku’s lips. “Promise me.” He whispered.

“Okay, I promise.” Goku responded easily and leaned in for more kisses. He’d have done what he felt like regardless of the prince’s opinion on the subject, but it seemed like Vegeta was happy about his choice.

Goku tried to picture Vegeta with a baby, and utterly failed. Then he tried to picture himself, but failed again.

…Oh well, he’d have time to get used to the idea.

Vegeta ran a thumb over his cheek and looked him the eyes. “If you really mean that, then you’ll understand why you can’t be in any danger.”

Goku sighed. He supposed he could see Vegeta’s point. “Fine. But I’m still training, and doing other stuff like—“ He broke off with a frown. What else could he do exactly?

“Yes, I wanted to get to that.” Vegeta chuckled, still touching Goku affectionately, pleased now that he had gotten his way. “Being my consort comes with responsibilities. You’ll be given lessons in our history, in public relations and other species customs. In the long run, you might make a decent emissary. You’d go together with Tarble, and he’d teach you.”

Goku wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of more lessons, but tried out the unfamiliar word. “Emissary?”

“A diplomat. There would be plenty for you to do. We have allies from many and diverse species and dealing with them is…“ _a fucking nightmare_ “…Occasionally quite challenging.” And really not something Vegeta had the patience to do. But Kakarot marveled at the simplest things, and were easy for people to like thanks to his easygoing nature. As long as he had some basic manners and decorum beaten into him, then he’d make a decent diplomat yet, or so Vegeta hoped.

“Do I get to go to other planets?” Goku asked excitedly.

“…Eventually, yes.” Vegeta allowed grudgingly.  

“Awesome!” Goku really wanted to see and experience the worlds the many different kinds of aliens he’d seen came from. Plus, if he was taught how to travel in space, he’d eventually get a chance to go back to Earth and fill in his friends on everything that had happened to him.

Vegeta didn’t share Goku’s excitement for the beta running around strange planets, but with enough guards and Tarble there to keep control of him, it would probably be okay. Hopefully.

“Let’s get out of this bath. We have things to do, and you ate all the food.” Vegeta’s own stomach was growling by now.

“Okay, I could eat some more too actually.” Goku said and got up.

“Of course you can.” Vegeta muttered, and followed after.

 

xXx

 

“Yo.” Goku greeted with a grin as he plumped down across from Raditz.

The older saiyan looked up from his almost finished food and eyed him. He hadn’t expected to be found in the communication rooms, having chosen to combine his lunch with work. “Finally up and about I see. It’s after noon already.”

Goku shrugged and stole a cracker. “We got sidetracked while getting dressed.” He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned at his brother.

Raditz made a face and pushed his leftovers aside. “Thank you for that image, really.” He snarked. He sullenly watched his little brother throw himself at the scraps, and wondered if Goku had incorporated a black hole somewhere in his person. “How are you feeling?” He asked. Goku didn’t look like he was bothered by any after effects, aside from an increased appetite, but you never knew.

“Good.” Goku responded with a smile. “Sore too, but it figures.” He stole Radtiz’ juice too.

Raditz grimaced but let him. “So what’s the verdict, am I going to be an uncle?” He asked, only joking.

“Probably. Vegeta thinks so.” Goku replied easily.

“What?!” Raditz almost slipped out of his chair. “Seriously?” He’d thought for sure his brother would have the sense to operate basic birth control. “A few days ago you were considering leaving him in favor of a fucking pirate and now you’re suddenly cool with having a kid?!”

“Well… Yea.” Goku slurped the juice. “I guess it’s fine.” He shrugged.

Raditz dropped his head down to rest on the table and groaned. His hands came up to pull frustratedly at his hair. “There are so many things wrong with you that I can’t even…” 

Goku reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “Anyway, I just came by to see you before we go back to Base One. Though I guess I’ll see you there later.”

Raditz froze up, but only for a second, too short for Goku to catch. Slowly he lifted his head. “Ah, yea. I’ll see you…” At some point. Now that Goku had mated with Vegeta, Raditz was no longer needed to hang around and keep his brother under control, and being on C team, he couldn’t expect to get a permanent position on Base One.

Goku smiled back at him happily and stood up. Raditz kept quiet about his worries.

“Remember to call mom and dad.” Raditz reminded him before Goku could leave. “They probably already know, what with having watched the Tvekamp and all, but they’d probably appreciate talking to you too.”

Goku paused in the doorway. “Oh yea, mom said she wanted to hear when I got mated from me.” He winced. “Guess that ship has sailed.” He sighed, but then seemed to shrug it off and waved to his brother.

“Kakarot!” Raditz called out to him before he could leave.

Goku turned back around, eyebrows lifted. “Yea, Raditz?”

Raditz just watched him for a moment. “Take care of yourself, alright? And your passenger, if you have one.” He said seriously.

Goku smiled. “I will. You too. Bye!” He skipped out of the door, eager to look around outside before Vegeta found him again and dragged him onto a ship.

Raditz watched the door slowly creak closed. “Bye…”

xXx

Goku knew he probably shouldn’t be doing what he was doing, but found himself hesitating outside the med-bay doors anyway. He bit his lip and carefully peeked inside. The room seemed to be empty, but Goku could feel the ki signature he’d been looking for.

Slowly he crept inside, walking carefully towards the set of beds covered by almost transparent white curtains, heart beating in his throat. He curled a hand around the curtain and pulled it aside.

Turles looked back at him.

“Oh, I uh. Hi.” Goku said lamely, having not really expected the commander to be awake.

“What are you doing here?” Turles asked, sitting up with a hiss. His one arm, the one that had been cut off, was reattached and in a sling. The skin of it looked a sickly color though, and Goku bit his lip, wondering if it could truly be saved. Medical tanks couldn’t regenerate limbs...

“Nothing, I just… I guess I wanted to see if you were okay.”

Turles laughed mirthlessly and eyed him. “You actually care? Well, this is news.”

“Of course I care.” Goku said quietly.

Turles snorted. “Yet you come here, sporting a fresh mating bite and still reeking of Vegeta. Truly, how wonderful. Just what I longed to see.”

Goku flinched and took a step back, hand rubbing his new scar. He wouldn’t be cowed though. “I didn’t come to fight with you Turles, or mock you, or even apologize. I’m not sorry about what I did. I always had the right to choose, and you were the one to issue Tvefight, so this is… You could have gotten off much worse than this.” Goku reminded him.

The dark skinned man watched him in silence for a moment. “Not so meek anymore I see.” He then snorted and turned his head away. “I suppose I should thank you for saving my life, but I’m finding it a bit hard to feel grateful right now.”

Goku bit his lip and shifted his weight to his other leg. “Is it bad? The, uh, social…” He wasn’t sure what to call it, and didn’t want to throw the word ‘dishonor’ around if he could avoid it.

Turles didn’t have any such compulsions. “The stigma? The degradation? The disgrace?” He snorted. “I don’t give a damn.” He was his own master first and foremost, and his crew was loyal to him first, the saiyan alliance second. He could leave until all this blew over.

“You don’t care?” Goku asked, blinking in surprise.

“No.” Turles looked at him steadily. “All I care about is that you won’t be coming with me.”

Goku took a step back and looked down. “I… I’m sorry.” He muttered, half hugging himself.

Turles watched him in silence for a bit. If he acted now, while Vegeta was distracted and Kakarot’s guard was down, Turles might be able to knock the beta out and make off with him before anyone could stop him. Turles snorted at the thought. It would be a useless endeavor. Kakarot wouldn’t let himself be controlled so easily, captured or not. Besides, that was never how Turles had imagined them being. Maybe at the beginning the power play might have exited him, but never in the long run. If he couldn’t have Kakarot on his side, there was no point to having him at all.

Still, there was no reason to close all doors.  

“I’m not allowed to challenge Vegeta for you anymore, but _you_ can always change your mind.”

Goku startled and stared back at him. “You still—?”

“Come here.” Turles said, reaching out and grapping Goku’s arm, pulling him closer before the beta could protest. Not giving him a chance to think, Turles leaned up while he pulled Kakarot down, and kissed him.

Goku’s eyes widened as their lips connected, but it wasn’t more than a brief touch, soft almost, before Turles released him and let him pull back. The pirate stared Goku in the eyes, expression intense. “Always.” He stated.

Goku stared back, caught by the look in Turles’ grey eyes. They stood like that for a long moment, caught between breaths and actions. Then Goku finally looked away.

Turles chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “I know already…” He turned his head away too. “Now go, before Vegeta finds out you’ve been here.”

Slowly Goku pulled away and started towards the door, looking hesitantly over his shoulder as he went. He was stopped by Turles calling his name when he was almost there.

“Kakarot!” Turles watched Goku turn around to look. “I meant what I said. If you change your mind, come find me.”

Goku looked back steadily, a strange peace settling over him. “I won’t.” He stated, voice sure. Then he left; Turles’ dark eyes becoming nothing but a memory.           

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been ages since I wrote smut and I frankly contemplated skipping it, but no. I planned to write smut so I damn well did it, focus problems or no!  
> Feeling better, but working on a small side project, also Kakavege. Not sure if I'm gonna finish it yet, but it helps me keep engaged when I run into blocks with this one.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A song suddenly shifting from major to minor…

Being back on Base One, after everything that had happened, felt like a bit of an anticlimax. That said, there was certainly enough to do. Vegeta wasted no time getting things in order, while Goku just tried to ride out the tempest that was Vegeta in an organization mood without getting in the way.

While the prince was distracted, Goku took the time to call his mom, who gushed at him about the Tvekamp and congratulated him. Bardock was luckily not present, which made Goku breathe a sigh of relief. His dad was kind of scary, and it wasn’t exactly a secret that he didn’t like the royal family, of which Goku was now part of... Gine wasn’t surprised by the news of his mating course, everyone had known with how the fight ended. It had caused quite a stir.

They spoke for a while, until Vegeta showed up and carefully pulled Goku away to demand that he eat. Gine had tittered at the show of concern, and Goku had side-eyed Vegeta rather heavily, being no longer sick and perfectly capable of remembering to feed himself.

Not that Goku was going to turn down food if suggested.   

Otherwise Vegeta didn’t seem inclined to demand much from him yet, so Goku got away with spending most of the first day back conked out on the couch while Vegeta fretted over lesson plans for him, getting ‘proper clothes’ made to suit a consort, whatever that meant, and working on his own things as highest commander. He interspersed it with checking up on Goku every fifteen minutes or so, as if he’d have gone somewhere or gotten in trouble during that time.

Goku wondered if Vegeta wasn’t really the one suffering from after heat symptoms.

At least he hoped the alpha would calm down after some days, because this would quickly get annoying. Goku lasted to until after dinner before he grew tired of Vegeta’s constant circling around him and decided to slip out.

After several wrong turns he made his way to a gravity training room and went in. Goku did his stretches at 1G, knowing that it had been a while since he did much in the way of that kind of training. Actually not since Checkpoint 8, before Turles showed up, which had been… Goku counted in his head. Wow, several weeks ago already.

So Goku took it slow and only set the gravity to 20G. Having last trained at 60 it was quite a step down, but he didn’t want to injure himself.

He had just gotten into a good rhythm when someone started banging wildly on the door.

Goku looked over and through the small window on the door to see who it was, and wasn’t particularly surprised when he found Vegeta glaring furiously back at him. Okay, so the anger was a bit startling. Goku tilted his head. “What?” He asked, hoping that Vegeta could hear him over the humming gravity generators.

Vegeta scowled. Turning his attention to the keypad controlling the room, he overrode Goku’s commands and sat the gravity to 1G again. Goku sighed in annoyance as he felt the pressure dissipate, and watched with narrow eyes as Vegeta entered the room.

“Kakarot! What the hell are you thinking, training under heightened gravity?!!”

Goku scratched his hair, a bit surprised that that was what was bothering Vegeta. He’d figured he was maybe angry that Goku had snuck off, and Goku had been ready to argue against that, but this was unexpected. “That it’d been a while so I needed to build up my tolerance again?”

“No, no.” Vegeta shook his head and walked over, grabbing Goku by his arms, but his grip stayed gentle. “Not in your condition. _You_ might make it under heightened gravity, but the child would not. It could put too much stain on your body. You _cannot_ go above 10G, do you hear me?”

Goku sighed and fought the urge to roll his eyes. “We don’t even know if I’m—“

“Of course you are.” Vegeta broke him off. “I’m an elite saiyan. A _super_ elite, even. There is no way I haven’t gotten you pregnant.”

Goku gave him a dull look but didn’t bother to argue. “Right, anyway. I’m still going to train, so do you wanna join me, or…?”

Vegeta looked around the gravity room with a faint sneer on his face. “Not here. We have our own training rooms you know. You’re royalty now, there’s no reason for you to use the common facilities.”

“We do?” Goku asked, more focused on the idea of a private training room than Vegeta’s disdain for anything he deemed below his status. Goku found it fairly hilarious how Vegeta still clung to such notions, considering who the prince had mated.

“Of course. Now follow me.” Vegeta said, then gently pulled Goku out of the room.

Goku came along willingly, once again nothing how Vegeta hadn’t touched him roughly even once since his heat had ended. Goku had sort of gotten used to the grabbing and pulling, and didn’t know what to think of the change.

The private training room was full of machines, and Goku walked around behind Vegeta, eying them with curiosity as Vegeta explained their functions. It was a more controlled way of training, focusing on specific muscle groups instead of the whole body, but Goku didn’t necessarily dislike the idea. In the end Vegeta didn’t stay though, still having too much to do, and left Goku to train on his own under more controlled Vegeta approved conditions. Goku snorted at the thought, but got in a good training session anyway.

xXx

Two weeks later, Goku was soundly asleep on the couch in the living room.

He wasn’t meant to be.

Tarble, who had been teaching him before he fell asleep, started putting down their lesson books with a sigh while he eyed him. Goku mating with Vegeta was exactly what Tarble had hoped for, and he was happy to now be actually related to his friend, but these days he didn’t get to see much of Goku outside of teaching him.

When the younger saiyan wasn’t studying or training he… Slept. Tarble understood how the full day schedule Goku had now might exhaust him, but lately Goku had started nodding off mid lesson too, yawning like his jaw would break. Today marked the first time he had fallen completely asleep though.

Tarble thought he might be able to guess at the reason. Goku hadn’t said anything to him, neither had Vegeta, but his older brother was disturbingly chipper and walked around, chest puffed, like he had accomplished something amazing. Goku meanwhile had categorically refused seeing a doctor, stating that he felt _fine_ and that he’d go if that stopped being the case. Tarble found it all very suspicious.

As if summoned by Tarble’s thoughts, Vegeta let himself into the room, frown in place. Probably more trouble with his generals Tarble figured. Vegeta stalked over towards them, but slowed his approach at the sight of Goku sleeping on the couch. Vegeta came to a stop next to Goku and looked him over in silence, an unreadable expression on his face. “How long has he slept?” He asked in a low voice.

Tarble tabbed his chin. “Hmm… Just a few minutes I think, but he’s been yawning his way through the entire lesson.”

“You should have let him rest then.” Vegeta scolded and bent down to place a hand on the sleeping beta’s forehead, probably checking his temperature.

Tarble sighed, rolled his eyes and started gathering his teaching materials. For the first few days he had thought Vegeta’s preoccupation with Goku was sort of cute, but by now he had realized that the concern stemmed from the same place as the rest of Vegeta’s control issues. Vegeta hated not being in charge of a situation, and dealt with it even worse, and Goku was by now well known to do exactly what he wanted. The way Vegeta dealt with it in this case seemed to be near constant supervision, which Tarble figured Goku only allowed because he happened to be fond of the idiot.

Instincts probably also played a role in Vegeta’s hyper focus on Goku, but Tarble wasn’t mated himself, and hadn’t been around enough other mated saiyans to say what was what.  

Said beta, who had just looked to be in peaceful slumber, suddenly snapped his eyes open and sat up. He almost banged his and Vegeta’s heads together.  

Tarble dropped a book. “Goku?”

Goku didn’t answer. He covered his mouth with a hand, eyes confused, sweat appearing on his forehead. Then, after a moment, he jumped up, ran over to the kitchenette and bent over the sink. Tarble and Vegeta hurried to his side, just in time to see him heave.

Goku felt sweat bead on his forehead and his stomach roll. He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned heavily on the sink as he heaved again and bile filled his mouth. He spat and hacked, nose burning from stomach acid.

The last couple of days he had felt faintly nauseated, but hadn’t said anything about it. Goku really, really didn’t want to be declared ill again; he had just gotten to a good place in his training! He’d figured it would go away on its own, but clearly not.

His stomach cramped and he heaved again, eyes leaking. Vegeta was talking in his ear, but Goku wasn’t listening. Why did this have to have to happen right now with witnesses? Now they’d definitely drag him to the med-bay, where Coquille would say that he had a virus, and then he’d have to do nothing again.

“Urgh, whyyy….” Goku whined, resting his head against the cool tabletop when his stomach finally stopped rebelling.

Tarble turned on the water so the puke and bile was washed away, and Vegeta kept rubbing Goku’s back. Goku looked up at him with teary eyes, ready to complain. Vegeta was smiling.

Goku froze and stared at him. “Why the heck are you smiling?!” He asked, voice raspy.

“Because this is a great sign!” Vegeta exclaimed, expression gleeful.

Goku stared at him in disbelief. “I’m puking my guts out, how is that great?!” He demanded to know. He probably had some horrible virus that would keep him bedridden for weeks, so why would Vegeta say something like that?

“Because it’s an early symptom of pregnancy.” Vegeta reasoned, still sounding terribly pleased. “Especially during the first months.”

Goku’s eyes widened. “Months?!!” Slowly he turned his head enough to look questioningly at Tarble, hoping he had heard wrong, but his brother in law simply nodded at him with a sympathetic expression. Goku’s hands clenched around the table edge hard enough to make cracks appear. “No one thought to tell me this _before?_!” He yelled. He never signed up for months of nausea. 

Tarble wisely stepped back, and Vegeta paused, finally seeming to get that rejoicing when his partner was bent over and miserable might not be so smart. Pleased smirk wiped off his face, Vegeta hurried to get Goku a glass of water. “It’s common knowledge.” Vegeta reasoned, even as he handed Goku the glass. “Take small sips.” Vegeta cautioned.

Goku ignored him and gulped down the water, then slammed the empty glass down on the counter. “So you’re telling me, that not only will I feel like this for months, but _you knew about it_?!”

“I’ll leave you two to talk.” Tarble stated, eager to get away before he too was drawn into the brewing argument. Vegeta could deal with angry and probably hormonal Goku on his own. This might confirm Tarble’s suspicion that he’d be an uncle, and he was happy about that, but he’d congratulate them when Goku looked less pissed. Tarble fled, door slamming behind him.  

Vegeta cast a betrayed look towards his brother’s escape path, but then looked back at his mate, trying to school his expression into something placating. “I really thought you knew.” Goku glared, not placated in the slightest. “B-but it’s not so bad for everyone!” Vegeta continued.

Goku groaned and pushed Vegeta away so he could go lie down on the couch again. Vegeta followed him there and sat down on the coffee table to stay close. “Is this the first time it’s happened or…?”

“First time I threw up from it.” Goku replied reluctantly, one arm placed over his face to shield from the light. He felt a sudden headache coming on.

Vegeta nodded, even if Goku couldn’t currently see it. Probably a good thing too, seeing as Vegeta couldn’t quite keep his pleased smirk at bay. Coupled with the exhaustion, if Kakarot was experiencing nausea, then there was no doubt Vegeta had succeeded in getting him with child. Tamping down the rush of victory for later, Vegeta focused back on his mate. Now was not the time to celebrate; he had to placate Kakarot and get him back into a good mood. The beta might have promised to keep the child, but he hadn’t known what he was getting into then, and Vegeta didn’t feel completely sure that he wouldn’t change his mind.

Vegeta moistened his lips. “I’m sorry that you’re feeling bad.” He said, making sure to keep his voice sounding sympathetic. “I’ll try to find something to help you, so don’t worry too much. I won’t let you suffer for months.” Vegeta promised, voice almost sugary sweet for his standards. He reached out and placed his hand lightly on Kakarot’s abdomen, carefully rubbing small calming circles there.

Goku responded with a whine, then lifted his arm enough to glare at Vegeta. “You better. This is your fault.” He muttered resentfully. He had known his belly would grow, but no one had said anything about feeling sick. Goku felt cheated.

Vegeta bent over and lightly kissed his forehead. “I know, I know. I’m sorry.” He was absolutely not sorry. He had gotten his mate pregnant in first try! Vegeta was amazed by his own virility. “You just stay here and rest. I’ll get you something for the nausea, okay?”

Goku nodded sullenly, face covered again. “Turn of the lights too. My head hurts.”

“I will.” Vegeta pulled a blanket over him and hit the lights. “Be right back.”

Goku was left behind, sulking in the darkness. After a few minutes, he slowly covered his belly with a hand. Somewhere in there a tiny person might be growing, either that or Goku really had gotten a nasty virus. Goku couldn’t really wrap his head around the idea of the first. He didn’t _feel_ pregnant. Shouldn’t he be able to tell? Maybe Vegeta was wrong and Goku had just caught the space flu. Yea, that seemed more likely. No way people would agree to getting pregnant if it made them feel this bad. Vegeta was just being weird and overreacting. That was all.

“I’m not pregnant.” Goku stated firmly to the empty room. The darkness didn’t answer him back.

xXx

Another week went by. Every morning Goku drank the tea Vegeta had procured for him and tried to put the experience out of his mind. Vegeta tried to drag him to the med-bay again and again, but Goku dug his heals in. When Vegeta hadn’t relented, Goku had finally snapped and thrown a tea mug at him, which, in hindsight, might have been a bit of an overreaction.

Goku hid his face in a pillow. Right now he was laying in his and Vegeta’s bedroom, and Vegeta was in the main room, cleaning up the spill and porcelain shards. After fifteen minutes or so, Goku didn’t feel so angry anymore. Instead he felt guilt bubbling in his belly. Vegeta wasn’t trying to be mean, he was just trying to take care of him.

With a sigh Goku got up and slowly opened the door to the main room. Vegeta was sitting in a chair by the table, leaning on it, one hand half covering his face. His mouth looked tight.

“Hey…” Goku said quietly. Vegeta glanced at him, face neutral but eyes on guard. Goku bit his lip, hesitated for a moment, but then walked closer. “I’m sorry that I threw a mug at you. That was mean.” Carefully he placed a hand on Vegeta’s shoulder, unsure of his welcome. 

Vegeta sighed and brought his own hand up to cover Goku’s, but his voice when he spoke was frustrated. “You’re driving me insane. How long are you going to persist with this notion of yours?”

“How long are you?” Goku countered. Vegeta thought Goku was pregnant; Goku didn’t. It was an issue of dissent. When Vegeta scowled and pulled away, Goku lowered his head and bit his lip. “I’m sorry. I don’t want us to fight about this anymore.”

Vegeta snorted. “What do you suggest we do then? Ignore it?”

Goku winced at the tone Vegeta used. “Right now? Maybe.” Slowly he touched Vegeta again, running a hand over the alpha’s tense shoulder. “Won’t you have a spar with me?” Goku asked. He missed Vegeta, strange as that sounded. They saw each other each day, and they definitely saw plenty of each other in the bedroom, but when they weren’t having sex, their talks tended to devolve into arguments. Goku was tired of it.

“I’m not fighting you in your condition.”

“I’m not—“ Goku broke himself off and took a deep breath. He wasn’t starting the same thing again. “You don’t have to fight back then. I can attack, and you can block me.”

When Vegeta didn’t immediately respond, Goku leaned down until his face was next to Vegeta’s ear and pulled his trump-card. “I’m still the strongest of us, and with all the training I’ve been doing, I’m probably the fastest too. You could learn something.”

Vegeta bristled and sprang up. “You? HA! I’ve been training myself. As an elite I’ll catch up to you in no time!”

Goku hid a smirk. “Oh really?” He asked. Vegeta glared at him, eyes burning. Goku looked back and licked his lips. “Then maybe if you manage to block all my attacks I’ll do that thing you like...”

Vegeta perked up, some of his hostility disappearing. “Really?” Then he remembered himself and shook his head, scowl back in place. “I mean, of course. You never stood a chance in the first place.”

This time Goku did smirk. “We’ll see.” He motioned for the doors. “Lead the way.”

Vegeta harrumphed but did, and soon after they were standing in the training room across from each other.

Goku pulled off his tunic, something he had gotten into the habit of wearing since he liked the looseness. These days he quickly overheated when training, and rarely wore much if he could help it. It left him in nothing but a pair of gi like pants, something he’d requested be made for him. There _were_ upsides to mating royalty, the fact that he got away with violating dress code being one of them.

Vegeta pulled off his armor and cape too, then faced him with a smirk. “Well? Are you waiting for an invitation?”

Goku grinned back and attacked.

Vegeta blocked his first punches easily, and when Goku thought he’d get him with a round-kick, Vegeta caught his leg. Goku tensed up, expecting to be thrown, but after a second of hesitation Vegeta instead let him go and moved back.

Goku frowned at him. That had been a perfect opportunity to counterattack, and Vegeta hadn’t taken it. Vegeta read the disappointment in his face easily. “I told you I wasn’t going to fight you.” He said. “Now try again, that can’t be the best you’ve got.”

Spurred on, Goku launched himself forward again, this time holding nothing back. Vegeta grunted under the onslaught, but managed to stand his ground.

Vegeta grit his teeth as another hit almost hit his temple. Evasion was getting harder as Kakarot rapidly lost his cool, too caught up in the battle after training on his own for so long to pull his punches. Vegeta didn’t mind, but had to admit that the beta hit harder than he had expected. In a real fight, Vegeta would probably have had trouble on his hand, and the realization pissed him off. There was _no way_ he was going to let a third class stay ahead of him, mate or not.

Soon he decided to focus on Kakarot’s ki, figuring that he could probably predict the other saiyan better like that. Vegeta smirked and got ready to turn the tables on the younger man, when suddenly something flickering on the edges of his senses caused him to pause.

Goku didn’t notice Vegeta’s hesitance, too caught up in his excitement. He launched himself at Vegeta, ready to take him down with a body slam.

“Kakarot, stop!” Vegeta called, then deftly flipped his opponent into a controlled fall, being careful to soften the beta’s landing.

They hit the floor, and Goku looked up, surprised, still caught in Vegeta’s arms. “What are you doing Vegeta? Why are we stopping?” He asked, cheeks flushed red from expended energy.

Vegeta watched him, eyes wide in his now pale face. “Haven’t you felt it?”

“Felt what?” Goku asked with a frown.

Slowly Vegeta took Goku’s hand, and led it carefully down, until he settled their entwined fingers over Goku’s belly. “Feel your ki.” He demanded.

Goku raised an eyebrow but did as told. Slowly he focused on his own energy, especially around his stomach, figuring that there was some reason why Vegeta would—His thoughts came to a screeching halt when he felt it. “Oh.” Was all he managed to say. He met Vegeta’s wide-eyed look with a mirrored one of his own. Under their joined hands a weak ember of new ki was flickering, alive and pulsing almost like a fluttering heartbeat.

Vegeta looked thrown, emotions flickering across his face too fast for Goku to follow.

Goku didn’t know _what_ to feel. “I’m…”

“Pregnant.” Vegeta finished for him, voice are mere whisper. Goku nodded dumbly, unable to deny it now. Vegeta leaned down and kissed him then, which Goku figured worked great, because he really had nothing to say right now. He hadn’t meant to become pregnant, though it wasn’t like he’d done anything to prevent it either. Vegeta certainly seemed happy though. And enthusiastic, with the way their kiss was progressing. “Let me—Let me touch you.” His mate hissed, hands scrabbling to pull at Goku’s remaining clothes.

“I don’t think you can get me any _more_ pregnant, just saying.” Goku told him, even as he lifted his hips for his pants to be pulled off. If Vegeta wanted sex, then that was fine. Goku knew what sex was and could deal with it much easier than, well…   

“Oh my gods, shut up and get this off!” Vegeta said and finally got his pants off.

In the end, it proved to be a very lucky thing that their training room was private, even if Goku really didn’t envy the clean-up crew.

Half an hour later, Goku caught his breath while he rested his head on Vegeta’s bare chest, spread out over the alpha and sweat cooling on his skin. Vegeta rumbled underneath him, pleased, and squeezed Goku’s ass. Goku sniggered and nuzzled into Vegeta’s neck.

“Mmhh, I should have realized sooner.” Vegeta mumbled, nose buried in Goku’s hair. “You smell sweeter. Fuller.”

Goku rubbed absently against Vegeta’s mating scar, something he often did in the aftermath when they lay like this. “I… Can’t really wrap my mind around it.” He admitted quietly.

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” Vegeta snorted, sarcasm heavy. He then rolled them over carefully, Goku landing underneath him and Vegeta resting on his elbows above him not to squash him. “Will you finally go see the doctor now?”

Goku sighed and closed his eyes. He felt Vegeta gently brush his bangs aside. “ _Fine_. Yes, I’ll go.” Even though he didn’t get the reason to. Now that Goku had noticed the tiny ki pulsing under his own, there really wasn’t any doubt anymore.

Vegeta seemed to read his mind. “You still need tests; maybe you’re lacking vitamins or something. I’ll go with you.” He didn’t trust Kakarot not to ‘forget’ telling Vegeta if there was anything off.

Goku sighed again. “Okay.” He muttered, annoyed by the prospect. “Are we going now?” Might as well get it over with.

Vegeta smirked and ran a finger through the still wet come splattered on Goku’s abdomen and chest. “Let’s take a bath first.”

Goku blushed, embarrassed to have forgotten. “Uh, right.”

 

xXx

 

Coquille hummed as she brought the pictures she had gotten from scanning Goku up on the screen. “Well, there it is. First saiyan baby of the royal line for twenty-two years.”

Goku and Vegeta both stared. Goku tilted his head. “It’s a blob.”

Coquille snorted. “That it is, in fact it’s so small you wouldn’t even be able to see it if not for our superior technology, but it won’t stay like that for long.” She threw a bottle of pills at Vegeta, which the prince caught. “Make sure he takes those.” She instructed.

“Of course.” Vegeta responded seriously.

Turning back to the results on the screen, Coquille quickly looked them over again. “Everything else looks fine, so just follow the instructions I print for you, kay?” She went over to get the material. “Any other questions?” She asked, eager to be rid of the royal couple who had cut into her lunch break with their visit.

Predictably Goku piped up, hand raised. “Yes, I can still train, right?” He asked, a touch desperately.

Coquille felt Vegeta glare burning holes into the side of her face but ignored him; the prince didn’t know everything, even if he suffered from the delusion that he did. “Of course you can. Staying in form is important, it makes birth much easier. Just don’t push yourself, focus on keeping fit, not on getting stronger.”

“…Alright.” Goku mumbled, a bit put out that he couldn’t push himself, but happy that he wasn’t put on bedrest. There was still mental training too, so he could always do more of that.

Vegeta laid a hand on his shoulder, satisfied now that his mate had gotten a clean bill of health. “Let’s go back.”

“Yea. I need to call my mom and tell her.” Goku bit his lip, wondering if she’d be happy. He had to tell Raditz too, but his brother hadn’t come back to Base One yet, the jerk.

Tarble would definitely be ecstatic, and Dilla… She’d probably laugh at him to be honest.

As for his father… He’d skip Bardock for now, Goku decided. Gine could tell him.  

 

**2 months later:**

Goku entered the council room as quietly as he could, while taking in the generals seated around the round table and Vegeta who was gesturing at one of them, looking mad. Nothing new there.

A guard noticed his presence. “First consort prince Kakarot!” 

Goku winced, still not used to the title, or his name being announced like that. Everyone in the room turned as one to watch him, and Vegeta focused on him intensely. “Kakarot? Why are you here, is something wrong?” The prince walked closer while looking him over.

Goku placed a hand over his small almost 3 month baby bump and smiled reassuringly. “I’m fine. Nothing is wrong, I was just wondering if you’d have lunch with me.” Even if the prince had avoided long term missions so far, Vegeta would often work until late, and Goku had a need to see him _now_ , not in several hours.

Vegeta opened his mouth to answer, but one of the generals got there first. “Prince Vegeta! We’re in the middle of an important discussion, you can’t simply leave for some frivolous—Guugrk!“ The general was cut off by Vegeta gripping his throat and squeezing tightly.

Vegeta’s eyes burned as he stared the man down. “I _can’t_? Go on, tell me more. I’m curious why you would think that you could decide this for me, seeing as I am your _prince_.”

The man was unable to answer; he scrabbled and clawed at Vegeta’s arm, mouth open and eyes wide as he fought for air. Vegeta snorted derisively and threw him to the side, then looked around at the other generals, who were all looking much more subdued now. They still took issue with Vegeta’s choice in mate, and though they were smart enough to keep up a façade of respect, Vegeta was constantly on the watch for any small slip up he could use to discipline them. “No more comments? I didn’t think so.” Vegeta turned his back on them and took hold of Goku’s arm. “Come on Kakarot.”

Goku mouthed a silent sorry to the gathered saiyans before he let himself be pulled along. He still didn’t like the roughness Vegeta would treat his subordinates with, but by now Goku had been among saiyans long enough to have seen that kind of discipline be doled out many times. It wasn’t uncommon for the pecking order to be re-established both often and violently, and surprisingly it kept things calmer than they would have been otherwise.

“Don’t feel sorry for him, they all know better.” Vegeta told him as he led Goku along. People already considered his mate to be strangely nice, gentle in a most un-saiyan way, though many were spilt on whether that was a good thing or not. Vegeta did his best to discourage the gossipers and harden Kakarot, but without much success.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Goku responded.

They reached their rooms, and Vegeta let Goku go and closed the door behind them. “Have you already called for food or—“ Vegeta was slammed up against the doors, sentence cut off. “Kakarot?!”

Goku pressed close, nose buried in Vegeta’s neck, and hands pulling on his clothes. “I don’t want food right now.” He stated, then bit lightly at Vegeta’s skin.

Vegeta was quick to get with the program, and placed his hands on Goku’s hips. “You called me here for sex.” He stated with a smirk.

“Mmmh…” Goku confirmed as he started loosening his own clothes.   

Minutes later Goku was bent over the dining table, Vegeta pounding into him. The alpha was holding Goku by his arms and pulling him back into his thrusts; it left Goku with no leverage, his oversensitive chest scraping against the table surface. “H-harder.” Goku demanded, gasping as Vegeta complied and got faster. He still wasn’t rough enough though, and Goku whined, the itch under his skin unsatisfied. “Vegeta…”

“What. Not rough enough for you?” Vegeta let go of Goku’s arms and reached around his torso to grab his chest. “Then maybe I should fondle your tits? That always seems to get you going…” Vegeta squeezed harshly.

“AAARGH!” Goku screamed, and Vegeta stopped moving, startled by the sound. That had not sounded like a noise of pleasure. “Kakarot?”

Goku curled in on himself with a hiss. “They’re… It hurts.”

At the admittance Vegeta pulled out and turned Goku around, looking him over with wide eyes. “The child?”

Goku shook his head with a grimace, one hand placed lightly on his chest. “No, here. I’m sore… Like the skin is too taunt an-and like a bruise underneath.”

“I see.” Vegeta relaxed. “That’s actually quite normal. I’m sorry I forgot about it, I’ll be more careful from now on.” He leaned in again and started laying kisses up Goku’s neck, eager to get back to where they left off.

“Normal?” Goku felt his eyebrows rise. Was this more pregnancy nonsense that he hadn’t been informed about? The nausea he could deal with thanks to the tea, and the heightened libido wasn’t exactly a downside, but why chest pains?

When Goku didn’t respond to his advances, Vegeta sighed and pulled back to look him in the eyes. “They’re swelling with milk, well, not yet, but they will. All so you can feed our child.”

Goku’s eyes widened. “Feed it, from here?!” He gestured to his chest again. “Like a _cow_??!”

“I’m not sure what a cow is.” Vegeta stated, “But yes. All mothers do.”

“Hooh boy.” Goku mumbled, expression glazed. He had not expected that. Did humans make milk too? Goku didn’t know, he’d never had a reason to ask. “Will it keep hurting?” He asked carefully.

“Hn…” Vegeta eyed him for a moment. “Come here.” Vegeta pulled him over to the sofa where he sat down, then pulled Goku down to sit astride on his lap. It brought Goku’s chest close to Vegeta’s face, and the alpha only had to lean forwards a little to pull in one taunt peak.

Goku shuddered when Vegeta first mouthed at the bud, then carefully started sucking. Like this the soreness wasn’t an issue, actually it only made Goku feel more sensitive. “Ah, ahhh… Keep doing that.” He requested, question forgotten as he shifted forwards on Vegeta’s lap and raised his hips until Vegeta could use his free hand to guide himself inside again. Goku sank down with a moan.

Vegeta chuckled while scraping his teeth lightly over Goku’s nipple. “Your belly is already full with child, and yet you’re still greedy for more.” He gabbed Goku’s hips to lift him up and down. “Such a little slut for getting filled.”

“ _Yes_.” Goku hissed, head thrown back. He didn’t know why, but he loved it when Vegeta spoke like that, called him names and said dirty stuff. He liked it even better when Vegeta manhandled him and ‘forced’ him to take it, even if they both knew Goku could easily get free if he really wanted to. There hadn’t been much roughhousing since Goku’s belly had swollen enough for it to show though, Vegeta growing ever more careful with him.

But like this Goku was in control of the speed, and he rode his mate hard, sweat running down his back and thigh muscles straining until he climaxed. Vegeta came soon after, and together they stayed sitting on the sofa as they caught their breaths, practically stuck together by seed and sweat.

Goku rested his head on Vegeta’s shoulder and drew in their combined scents with a pleased sigh. “Maybe you could take lunch with me every day from now on?”

Vegeta rested a hand against Goku’s side, able to feel how his mate’s skin tightened there and the beginning of the small bump on his belly. The flickering Ki of their child grew stronger by the day, and Vegeta couldn’t say why, but it fascinated him greatly. “I think I will Kakarot, I think I will.”

 

**Planet Vegeta, several weeks earlier:**

 

Bardock straightened up and stretched his back with a groan, while the bright red sun continued to bake down on his exposed skin. Already he was sweating rivers, and he wished he could have emptied a cold bucket of water over himself to cool down, but unfortunately he couldn’t afford the waste.

Looking out across his field, Bardock took in the sight of his newly completed irrigation system. It hadn’t been finished a moment too soon. Already the dirt was a dry crumbling red rather than the dark soil needed, and the guanacks, an otherwise hardy root vegetable, was looking decidedly droopy. Perhaps this would save them some form of meagre harvest.

“Hmph… Me, farming. Who would have thought.” Bardock grumbled as he wiped off dirt and rust from his palms and went over to turn on the system. The thin pipes groaned and shook as the water flowed through them, and Bardock kept his eyes out for leeks, but soon the ground started darkening, water floating on the dry clay like dirt for a long moment before sinking in. It all appeared to work.

With a last glance at his finished work, Bardock started gathering his toolbox and backpack. His water canteen was empty, and the water slowly flooding the field wasn’t drinkable. His lips were chapped and the roof of his moth dry. He’d also been feeling one of his headaches coming on all day, a bad sign, and usually he would have made sure to be home just in case… But there really hadn’t been any chance of putting this off. They couldn’t afford for their crops to fail, these days it was all standing between them and starvation.

With a frown Bardock thought of Gine, about how pale she was, cheeks more sunken in her normally round face for every week that went by. He knew she skipped meals so that he could eat and have the strength to work… Bardock hated it. Every day he would try to bring something back, but it was never enough. The animals were overhunted, the volcanic lakes had always been small and without much edible life, and other saiyans gathered natural nuts, roots and berries too, leaving very slim pickings. Bardock growled to himself. “It can’t go on like this.”

_“You’re right.”_

Startled by the sudden voice, Bardock whirled around. “Who?!—“

There was no one. Bardock turned his head and smelled the air, looking for anyone who might be hiding, but found nothing. He was alone. His headache intensified suddenly, until it felt like a hot knife was stabbing through his brain. Bardock clutched his head and went down to one knee while he cursed. “Shit.”

_“That’s why I’m going to change it. I promise.”_

The vision slammed into him.

The rust colored sky, the red ochre ground, the wind… It all shifted, until Bardock was no longer standing outside, but instead in a med-bay. The ground was red here too, but from spilled blood. Anguished cries sounded from behind him, and Bardock was slow to turn around, his heart lodged in his throat. He knew that voice. It was the same that had just spoken.

“Don’t you dare give up Kakarot!” Vegeta growled, bent over and supporting Kakarot, who was seated on his knees on a gurney, arms wrapped around Vegeta’s shoulders. The beta was naked, his stomach large and bulging like he’d swallowed a small planet. Blood was dripping over the edge of the medical table, the drops loud like heartbeats when they hit the ground. “I’m so tired, I can’t Geta… I’m so tired.”

The scene seemed to fast forward, Bardock unable to move or interact. He was nothing but a spectator.

The wail of a child pierced the air, and the scent of blood was pungent, overpowering everything else. The child continued crying, but no one payed it any mind, all focus was on the gurney where the birth parent lay, unnaturally pale and quiet. Vegeta was screaming at Kakarot, cursing at him, threatening him, demanding he _wake up_.

The medical personal was standing back, faces somber, quiet. “I’m sorry Prince Vegeta.” One of them said. “The power burn… It was too much.”

The child kept crying, and Kakarot didn’t move.

“No… This isn’t supposed to happen.” Bardock said, then gritted his teeth when, as if summoned by his words, the scene shifted again.

Blue sky, white clouds. A crater made from landing a pod. There was still the sound of a crying child, but Bardock could see him now, and he was older, a toddler at least. The boy was bent over Kakarot, who was laid out on the ground, heavily wounded, bleeding… Still pregnant?

“Y-you have to… Close your eyes.” Kakarot rasped, voice weak. “Don’t look.”

“Daddy! No!” The boy bawled. Bardock couldn’t make out his features, the vision was too hazy.

Kakarot turned his head, eyes already cloudy; he seemed to be slipping from the pain. For a moment Bardock thought his son was looking at him, but then realized that no, Kakarot was looking at someone standing in the _same place_ as him, in whenever this was.

“Do it.” Kakarot ordered, voice weak but firm. “There’s no time, hurry.”

“You’ll die.” An unfamiliar voice told Kakarot blandly, as if the sight of Bardock’s son bleeding out while his child screamed and cried had no effect on them at all. Bardock wanted to scream at this unknown person too.

“I’ll die anyway, there’s no time.” Kakarot repeated. “Save him, _please_.”

Bardock was pulled away from the scene, the cries of the child, his grandson? Fading into the background.

This time the grass was blue, the sky green, weird round trees littered an already battered landscape. The sight was familiar. Bardock turned around, already knowing what he would see.

Kakarot was facing Frieza, the tyrant smirking. “We meet again.”

Bardock’s son looked livid. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Hohohohohoo!”

Everything went black.

xXx

 

Bardock woke up to a cool hand on his cheek. Still blind and disorientated, he fumbled for it. “Gine? Are you—Is this now?”

“It’s alright Bardock, you’re home. Please stay down.” Gine added as Bardock tried to sit up. Gently but firmly she pressed her mate into their bed furs again. “Seripa found you passed out in the fields and brought you back. You’ve been out for hours.”

Slowly Bardock opened his eyes, squinting against the light, low as it might be in their bedroom. “Water?” He asked, throat dry.

Gine quickly served him a glass from a pitcher she’d had ready. She bit her lip, hesitating as Bardock gulped the water down. “What did you see?” Bardock often wouldn’t divulge his visions, but Gine had a bad feeling about this one.

Bardock paused, and then slowly brought the now empty glass down. What had he seen indeed... It made no sense! Kakarot dying in childbirth, while entirely possible on its own, could not fit with him somehow being alive to die again later, or with him meeting Frieza after that. Kakarot had looked young in the first vision, close to his current age, but older when he faced the dictator. In the second vision… Bardock hadn’t _seen_ him die in that one, but from the looks of it he really hadn’t stood much of a chance. That left him with at least one, but most likely two cases of kicking the bucket and no explanation for the later vision. Unless…

Was it a case of diverging timelines? Or perhaps different outcomes or possibilities might be the better word. If Kakarot survived having his first child, then he’d end up wounded in a crater, said first child crying over him and another growing in his belly. If he survived that too, then he’d face Frieza? What had the words meant, the ones Bardock had heard just before the vision overtook him? _I’m going to change it._ Change what? Bardock had been thinking, talking, about the situation on their planet, but Kakarot had no hope to change that, so it had to be something else.

“Bardock?” Gine asked carefully when her mate had frowned in silence for several minutes.

Bardock finally looked at her, seeming to blink out of his thoughts. “I’m not sure what it meant… For now it can wait. As long as Kakarot isn’t pregnant then—“

“Ah.” Gine bit her lip and stared at her mate. Bardock narrowed his eyes at her. “What?”

Gine took a deep breath. She had hoped this would be happy news, but if Bardock had had a vision about it, then maybe not. “Just after you left today, Kakarot called. He—He’s pregnant.”

Bardock cursed. It was too late to completely avoid the first vision then.

“Do you need to call him?”

Bardock hesitated. “…No. Not yet. There’s no reason to stress him about something that might not even come to pass.” And besides that, Bardock wanted to at least try and find a solution before he brought it up with Kakarot and his hot-headed son in law. _Power burn_. That had been what killed Kakarot. Bardock knew of it, but not nearly enough. He would have to look into it.

One thing that brought him a small amount of relief was how Vegeta had acted in the vision. Until now Bardock had assumed the prince was simply using Kakarot as an incubator for strong offspring, nothing more, but the vision had brought him pause. Vegeta had been screaming, begging… Not the actions of a cold and careless mastermind, but of a distraught man losing his mate. It didn’t mean it was true, not everything in visions always was, or it could simply be an instinctual reaction, not an emotional one. But, keeping that in mind, for now Bardock would still remain very cautiously optimistic.

If Kakarot was going to survive, Vegeta would need to help.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally thought about going the whole ‘several years has gone by, now we’re here’ route, but no. Aside from scattering plot points around more easily like this, there’ll be more chances of writing fluffy interactions this way. Don't judge me; I need *something* to keep me sane while I try to condense the whole Frieza saga into something that isn’t just seven hours of screaming.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goku isn’t dealing so well, Tarble takes a level in badass and Vegeta gives a lesson in Resent Saiyan History – an intro course.

Goku was resting in the nature room with his back against the warm rocks. He had been meditating. His face was lifted towards the sun as he breathed evenly and felt his own ki swirl around him. There was something odd…

“Goku?”

Goku slowly opened his eyes to see Tarble next to him, frowning down at him in concern.

“Hi Tarble.”

“Vegeta is having a fit, he doesn’t know where you went and you’ve been gone for hours.” Tarble informed him as he sat down beside Goku.

Goku snorted lightly. “I hid my energy… He’ll have felt it now though. I was just flaring it.”

Tarble leaned back on his hands and looked up into the artificial sky. “Yea… I should probably try to learn this ‘ki sensing’ too.” He sighed, once more putting it off, then turned his head to eye Goku’s belly. “How’s my little niece or nephew doing?”

Goku placed a hand on his belly, running a thoughtful hand over the swell. At 4 months his waistline had disappeared and he was hungry _all the time_. Goku had always had a healthy appetite, but by now he suspected that the kitchen personal hated him as his nighttime buffet sized cravings with a passion. “Size wise it’s supposed to just about fit in my hand, and Coquille says it can hear me now.”

“Really?” Tarble said, sitting forward with an exited expression. “Can I say hi?”

“I guess…”

Tarble eagerly scooted closer and put a hand on Goku’s belly. “Hi baby, it’s your uncle Tarble. You’ll recognize me when you get out for looking kinda like your dad, except I’m a lot more fun.”

Goku watched Tarble talk nothing at his belly in a pitched voice with a blank expression, then turned away to watch the sky instead.

Tarble noticed. “Goku…?”

“What.” Goku asked without turning back around.

“Are you… Okay? You’re being really quiet. Did something happen?” Tarble asked carefully, lifting his hand off of Goku. Despite his agreement to it, the beta didn’t give of an aura of wanting to be touched.

“I’m fine. I’m just…” Goku trailed off, then ran a frustrated hand through his hair and chewed his cheek for moment. “Actually, no. I’m not really fine I guess.”

Tarble had figured as much. This wasn’t the first time Goku had ‘disappeared’ this week. “Wanna talk to me about it? You know I won’t tell anyone.”

Goku let out a deep breath. “It’s… It’s several things. Vegeta and I aren’t really talking right now, and it’s gotten weird.”

“Did you have a fight?” Tarble wondered. He, if anyone, would know how hard Vegeta could be to get along with for extended periods of time. Or for any period of time.

Goku made a face. “Not really?” He sighed, wondering if he was about to ‘overshare’ again, but decided that he didn’t care. “I haven’t wanted sex for a while, and it made me realize that we don’t really interact much outside of that.”

Goku liked talking, he didn’t _need_ to go over his day or talk inanely about the weather, and he enjoyed silence too, but he appreciated conversation, so it would be nice if some of what he said garnered a full response from Vegeta. Goku also liked doing things together with people he cared about, not just sitting around in each their own ends of the room in weighted silence while doing their own things or bickering abut meaningless nonsense. Vegeta wasn’t much of a conversationalist though.

It had been easier when their bodies had done the ‘talking’ for them, but take that away and you we’re left with two people who didn’t know how to communicate.

Goku knew how to talk, but found it hard to get out the really important things. Meanwhile Vegeta had two main modes: Screaming in anger or silence.

“Oh, uh—Gee, that’s…” Tarble stammered.

“When he does talk to me, then it’s always about—“ Goku broke himself off and gestured angrily towards his swollen belly. “This.” He sneered.

Tarble felt his hands go cold and sweat appear on his neck. He really didn’t like the way Goku was sounding, or the look in his eyes. “You mean your baby?”

“Yes, that.”

Well shit. Tarble had known Goku didn’t really understand the changes his body was going through, but how had nobody caught this before? If anything Goku sounded detached at best, angry at worst. “W-well you’re going to be parents, of course you’d talk about it, right?” Tarble fumbled out, while his brain desperately searched for how to help his friend.

Goku slumped a bit and turned his head away again. “Right...” He said quietly, and Tarble bit his tongue, knowing he’d said the wrong thing. Out of ideas he slowly moved closer to Goku and put an arm around him, giving the beta plenty of time to reject the touch if he didn’t want it, but Goku didn’t pull away, he didn’t move at all.

“Goku…” Tarble let out a shaky breath. “Are you—are you regretting this? Do you not want the—the baby?”

“…That’s not it.” Goku said, after a moment of pause. He fisted his tunic and squeezed his eyes closed as he tried to find the words. “It’s just—Everyone expects me to have all these feelings and ideas about it, and I just don’t. I’m just trying to take it as I go along, and I have no idea what I’ll think once it’s here. Raditz left without telling me, and now he’s working in a completely different quadrant, and I can talk with him, Dilla and mom through the screen, but it’s not—it’s not the same.” He took a deep breath, still not done. “I have to go to lessons all day and I really hate some of them. I’m not allowed to train or push myself, I keep getting new symptoms I didn’t expect, and it feels like my body isn’t even mine anymore!” Another deep breath. “Meanwhile Vegeta just thinks everything is fine.”

Tarble watched him with concern, surprised by the flood of words. He’d had no idea that all these things were bothering his friend. It could be hard to tell with Goku sometimes. While Vegeta tended to explode at any small provocation or displeasure, Goku was really good at bottling things up and just going along with the motions until it either went away on its own or boiled over like now.

Neither were healthy ways to deal, but right now Goku concerned Tarble more, both because his friend clearly wanted help and because he was pregnant and so obviously isolated. Tarble felt ashamed that he hadn’t realized before; that Goku had been going through the motions of something life changing and scary that he didn’t understand, with only Vegeta, who had the emotional capacity of a spoon, and Tarble as his lifelines.

Tarble pulled Goku into a hug, enveloping his larger friend and brother in law as best as he could. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice you were feeling so bad.”

Goku let out a shuddering breath and hid his face against Tarble’s shoulder, arms around him and hands fisted in the smaller saiyan’s clothes. “Not your fault.” He mumbled, the sound a bit smothered. These days Goku often felt a strange mix of angry and sad. Smad? Other times he just felt listless. But he hadn’t talked to anyone about it before, thinking it was his own problem.

“No. We’re family, I should have paid more attention.” Tarble pulled back and looked at Goku seriously. “I’m happy that you told me, but this—you feeling this-this _sad_. It’s bad, Goku. Especially if you’ve been feeling like that for a long time.” Ante- and Post-partum depression didn’t happen much among saiyans, but when it did the results were often deadly. Tarble hoped it wouldn’t come to that.  

Goku slowly rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t cried, but he felt the tears prickling. Another weird symptom; he felt like crying several times a day, often without reason or explanation, and it freaked him out. He also wanted to eat things from Earth that he just couldn’t get here, and going without made him miserable. “I’m not always sad… Sometimes I’m annoyed, but most of the time I don’t really feel anything.”

Tarble winced. “Yea, I was worried you were going to say that.”

Goku looked up at him when Tarble stood up. “What do you mean? Is it… Do I only feel like this because I’m pregnant?” By now Goku wouldn’t put it past his own body to screw him over like that. “Does it mean something’s wrong?” That was the other option, and not one he relished.

“Oh no, you definitely have good reason, and you’re probably okay, but I’d like for us to go talk to Coquille anyway.” Tarble said, holding out a hand for Goku to take and pulling him up when he did.

“What about Vegeta?” Goku asked reluctantly.

Tarble made a face, but Goku couldn’t see it since they were already walking towards the exit, Tarble in the front. “Forget about him right now. I’ll talk to him.”

Goku bit his lip, unsure about the wisdom in doing that, but decided to leave Tarble to it. Still feeling a bit fragile after getting things off his chest, Goku reached out and gripped Tarble’s hand. Tarble let him, squeezed back, and didn’t let go until they were in the med-bay.

xXx

Coquille watched the two saiyans sitting across from her with a frown while pulsing on a cigarette. “Well shit.” She stated succinctly, having just listened to their explanation.

Treating depressive tendencies was hard enough already, but explaining to the oaf of a crown prince that no; she couldn’t just give Kakarot a pill and he’d be all better, would be even harder. Not that things were necessarily that bad yet.   

“You can help, right?” Tarble asked nervously, while placing a comforting hand on Goku’s shoulder. “Maybe medicine, or—“

Coquille held up her hand to stop him. “Medicine won’t be my first choice. If Kakarot needs it, then I’ll consider it, but for now a rearrangement of his daily activities, more down time and actually communicating with that oa—I mean Vegeta, should be enough.”

Goku sighed and kicked his legs dejectedly from where he sat on the gurney. Coquille picked up her own thermos and poured a cup of tea from it, which she then handed him. Goku took it, but simply held the warm mug between his hands instead of drinking, head hung and eyes focused on the floor. He hated med-bays, and he hated feeling like this, and sometimes he also hated the little being in his body who was causing it, even if he always felt guilty for thinking so afterwards.

Tarble looked between him and Coquille with a nervous frown. “Isn’t there anything else—“

The doors opened and Vegeta barged in. “Kakarot!” He locked onto Goku immediately and started forward. Goku didn’t look at him, simply kept staring at the floor, and so Tarble intervened.

It wasn’t often that Tarble experienced that his body moved and responded to a threat before he could think, but in this case he didn’t hesitate. “No.” Tarble said, then grabbed Vegeta by the arm and started dragging him back out, his older brother too surprised to immediately resist. “You’re coming with me first.”

Finally Vegeta snapped out of it and started struggling, but Tarble kept a firm grip. “Let go of me! He’s my mate, I need to—“

“You need to listen to me.” Tarble finished for him as the doors closed behind them, leaving them in the hallway. He pushed Vegeta until his back was up against the wall and Tarble was holding him there by the shoulder.

Vegeta sneered at him. “What the hell has gotten into you, Tarble?” Vegeta asked him, lips pulling back to show fang. “Are you finally challenging me for ruling right?”

Among saiyans the first heir wasn’t determined by birth order, but by power. Vegeta wasn’t crown prince because he was older, but because he was stronger and a more ruthless warrior. Tarble might be all but out of the running thanks to his beliefs and dislike of fighting, but the younger prince wasn’t weak from the outset, and he could have had a change of heart. Vegeta tensed his muscles, ready to attack if needed.

Tarble snorted at the suggestion. “No. You know I don’t care about that. If I had I would have trained to catch up to you instead of pursuing science.” Despite his words he pressed Vegeta more firmly into the wall, not letting up. “What pisses me off is that I had to find my friend close to tears after he ran away from you, again I might add, because you completely failed to notice his emotional state!” Tarble stated, ending his tirade with a practical yell. 

Vegeta blinked and stared at his brother, stunned by the show of anger. Vegeta couldn’t at present recall another time that Tarble had gotten mad enough to yell, much less bold enough to yell at Vegeta. “He’s not hurt?” He asked, choosing for now to focus on the more important questions, namely why Kakarot had been in the med-bay unscheduled.

“He’s not _physically_ hurt,” Tarble stated, “But that could change if he isn’t helped properly.” He finally let go of Vegeta and drew back. “He tells me you’re not communicating, which I don’t find hard to believe at all, and he’s lonely. It’s no wonder; he’s practically isolated from his friends and family outside the two of us, and he has _no clue_ how to deal with being pregnant.” Tarble ran a hand through his hair while scowling. There was another reason he was pissed with his brother. “You were the one pushing for a kid, weren’t you? Goku wouldn’t have thought of it himself. So what the hell are you doing, pushing him into this and then letting him free-fall?”     

Vegeta growled and took a threatening step forward. “How dare you speak to me like that? Do I need to remind you who the one in charge here is?”

Normally the threat would have made Tarble flinch and pull back, but this time the younger prince stared Vegeta in the eyes defiantly. “Threaten me all you want brother, it doesn’t change the fact that your mate is depressed and feels no connection to his child.” Tarble gestured angrily towards the room where Goku sat. “Do you just not care about him? Is that it? Just having sex and forcing him to go to appointments don’t constitute as caring for someone!”

Vegeta suddenly moved. He grabbed his little brother by the throat and pushed him back until Tarble was the one with his back against the wall. “Shut. _Up_.” This was all hitting a little too close to home, and Vegeta didn’t appreciate it.

“I will not.” Tarble gripped his brother’s wrist and squeezed until Vegeta was forced to let go of his neck. “I know it’s a pretty foreign concept to you, but I actually care about both you and Goku. I want my niece or nephew to be born healthy, to a healthy mother, so for once in your gods damned life would you smother your pride and actually listen to me!?”       

Vegeta glared distrustfully at Tarble. “I see what’s happening here. You’ve got designs on my mate, don’t you?” It would make sense, Kakarot was desirable. “I should have realized it before. You’re always hanging around him, acting all buddy buddy, waiting to stab me in the back. Now you’re trying to use this to paint me in a bad light.”

Tarble groaned and gave into the urge to roll his eyes. “You are so unbelievably delusional sometimes I can’t even—No! Okay? No, I’m not interested in Goku like that, but he’s my friend and I don’t like seeing him like this, all sad a dejected.”

Out of excuses to throw at Tarble, Vegeta sneered and turned away from him. Depression? Kakarot was _depressed_? Impossible. The beta might be a bit moody, and Vegeta had to admit that dealing with him… It wasn’t all that easy. Vegeta hadn’t needed, or wanted, to have a conversation simply for the sake of _actually having a conversation_ , for years, and by now the ‘how’ was practically lost on him.

Meanwhile Kakarot would chat happily about anything and everything that had caught his fancy, be it the new food he’d tried that day or some progress he’d thought about implementing in his training when he could, about what he thought other planets were like… Though, now that Vegeta thought about it, didn’t it seem like it had been a while since Kakarot had done so? Just when exactly had the beta’s bubbly personality and optimism started giving way to silence? Vegeta hadn’t noticed it before. He was used to merely grunting or giving one word answers to Kakarot’s babbling to show that he was listening, but he never picked up the thread of conversation or talked back… Had Kakarot been hoping for that? Vegeta had thought the younger man would be fine simply talking at him, without Vegeta’s input, but… “What did you say was bothering him?” Vegeta finally, reluctantly, asked after the silence had festered in the hallway for a while.

Tarble sighed with relief, knowing that this was as close as he would get to Vegeta cooperating. “He’s lonely, isolated, confused about what he’s going through and I think he misses you actually showing an interest in him outside of sex and the fact that you’re having a kid. No, I know he does. He said as much.”

“…Really.” Vegeta mumbled, uncomfortable with how plausible that seemed. He’d thought talking to Kakarot about the kid would form a connection between the beta and child, making it more real for the younger saiyan, not alienating him from both it and Vegeta. He should probably have tried talking about other things, but it was just that… Vegeta didn’t actually know much about his mate outside of his power and fighting abilities; nothing about his hobbies, if he had any, or his favorite things, his dreams and wants… Shit. Vegeta ran a hand over his mouth, then rubbed his chin. He might have messed up a little bit. Miscalculated, so to speak. “So what does he want?” Vegeta asked, mostly to Tarble, but in reality also himself.

Tarble shrugged. “How about talking to him? Asking him stuff or… Actually telling him about yourself? He hardly knows anything about you from before you met, does he?”

“It’s not worth to know.” Vegeta said, voice sharp.

“Maybe you don’t think so, but he’s your mate, doesn’t he deserve to?” Tarble countered.

“…” Vegeta had no comeback to that.

When his older brother stayed quiet, Tarble figured he’d made his point, and turned around to open the door again. “Just think about what I said. Now, let’s go back in, then you can ask him what he wants yourself.”

xXx

**A few minutes earlier:**

Goku watched out the corner of his eye as Tarble dragged Vegeta outside, secretly relieved to get a couple of minutes to mentally prepare. He had been distracted and as such hadn’t noticed Vegeta drawing near.

Slowly he took a sip of his tea, just for something to do.

Coquille watched him. Her hearing was pretty good, better than a saiyans, and she could make out Tarble yelling at the crown prince outside the door. Good, that saved her the time for doing it herself. “Do you want something sweet in that?” She asked Goku, hoping to draw the beta into a conversation now that she had him on his own.

So far the boy hadn’t said much. And lords, he really just was a boy, still a teenager. She knew from his file that he’d be twenty when his kid was born, but that was still no age at all. He was so young, especially for a race like the saiyans, who had long lifespans, even though they usually died long before old age could become an issue. She felt like smacking Vegeta over the head, asking him what the hell he’d been thinking taking such a young mate. Kakarot might technically be considered an adult, but right now, curled into himself and clutching a mug of tea in front of his swollen belly, he sure didn’t look like it.

“No, it’s fine.” Goku answered quietly.

Coquille sighed and swirled in her chair to face him fully. “But you’re not, are you Kakarot?”

Goku didn’t answer, so Coquille continued. “You don’t have to be you know. You feel sad? That’s fine, be sad. You’re angry? Throw some things, it helps, and it’s just replaceable stuff anyway. I know this whole pregnancy thing is stressing you out, probably more than you realize, and I’m sure Vegeta isn’t helping despite his, surprisingly, best intensions.” She leaned forward, hands on her knees. “But I think, in the middle of all the excitement, people have quite forgotten to ask what _you_ want.”

Goku clutched the mug harder. “I don’t know what I want.”

“Don’t you? Seems to me you do.” She eyed Goku, giving him time to think and respond. After two minutes Goku was out of tea, and Coquille of patience. “Let me rephrase then; what do you _miss_ doing?”

Goku finally looked up. What did he miss? Only a seemingly endless number of things! And not just things his pregnancy prevented him from either. “I… I miss going outside. The nature rooms, they’re not the same, the smell isn’t right. I miss Earth, I miss being able to see my friends if I want to, I miss the ocean and bathing in salt water, I miss hunting, I miss snow, I-I—“ He hiccupped, quickly getting worked up.

A tear escaped and rolled down Goku’s cheek. “I miss my brother. I don’t know why he just suddenly left! He said he couldn’t get work here, but I’d find him something if he asked, or Vegeta would.” He took a deep breath. “I miss training, I can’t move normally anymore, and I feel tired and sore all the time. Like my body’s not mine anymore. I miss just having free time, days where I don’t have to do anything and can just… Fly around, play, do things I like. I miss going fishing. I miss real sunlight. I wanna eat vanilla, I’ve wanted to eat anything with vanilla for over a month, but they don’t know what it is here and it makes me want to cry! An-and about that. I miss not wanting to cry all the time, I don’t care why I’m doing it.”

Finally Goku lowered his head again, looking down into his diminishing lap. “I want to feel better when I’m around Vegeta again, but I don’t know how…”

Coquille hummed. “Those are all very reasonable things to miss and want.” She turned on her chair to face the two men standing in the doorway. “Don’t you think so, Vegeta?”

Goku’s head snapped up and swirled around so he could stare at Vegeta in surprise. Goku hadn’t heard the doors opening. How long had Vegeta and Tarble been standing there? “Did you hear…?”

“I heard.” Vegeta confirmed, expression hard to read. He quickly walked closer to Goku, and Goku started shrinking back, but then Vegeta grabbed him and pulled him into an unexpected hug. Goku stayed frozen for a moment, until Vegeta started carting fingers through his hair. Then Goku allowed himself to slump into his mate, but even so, he could guess why Vegeta was doing this. “You don’t have to worry, the baby is fine.”

Vegeta’s hands paused their stroking of his hair. “That’s not what I’m concerned about right now.” Slowly Vegeta pulled back. He framed Goku’s face with his hands and made him look up. “If there’s something you want, something you miss, just tell me damnit. I’m not a mind reader, but I _am_ royalty. I can get you these things.”

Goku looked away, uncomfortable with meeting Vegeta’s eyes. “Sorry…”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry Kakarot, tell me what you want. Hell, scream at me if you need to, I don’t care.” Vegeta pulled him into a hug again. “But don’t just run from me. I don’t like it.”

Goku took a shuddering breath and hugged Vegeta back. “Okay… I promise.”

They stood like that, hugging, for a long moment, while Tarble watched with some level of satisfaction and Coquille quickly grew bored of the display. She was a doctor, not a relationships counselor; she didn’t sign up for this level of drama.

Running a hand through her white hair she turned on her chair again and started clicking away on her computer. “Okay, you made up, or started to at least, all very touching. Now listen up, because there’s gonna be some changes to Kakarot’s schedule.”

Vegeta let Goku go to face the doctor, but kept a hand on his shoulder. “Go ahead.”

“First of his lessons are being cut in half, at least, and he’ll need actual free days. Secondly, let the boy outside somewhere, I don’t know where, you’re the commander so you figure out where it’s safe. Thirdly—“

It continued on like that for quite a while, and around point ten Vegeta started taking mental notes, while Tarble took actual notes. Meanwhile Goku finally made a very small but cautiously pleased smile and rested his head against Vegeta’s shoulder.

Maybe things would start looking up.

xXx

Once they arrived back at their rooms, Vegeta started making them both tea without prompting, mostly to keep his hands busy while he thought. While Coquille’s changes would definitely help, Vegeta wasn’t blind to the original problems that this all stemmed from. When the tea was done, he carefully carried it over and put it in front of Kakarot, before sitting down across from him.

“Thanks.” Goku mumbled.

Vegeta just observed the younger man for a while, taking note at how tired and pale he looked. Probably emotional exhaustion, but though Kakarot had always been pale for a saiyan and despite the exoticness making it one of his more attractive features, the lack of sunlight and air had left its marks too. Vegeta didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed before, when it seemed so obvious now.

“Perhaps you should go lie down for a bit.” Vegeta suggested. Things could wait until Kakarot no longer looked like he’d topple over.

“But what about…” Goku trailed off and bit his lip, letting the line of thought go. “Are you leaving then?” He asked, not meeting Vegeta’s eyes.

Vegeta had indeed been planning on wrapping up some work while Kakarot rested, but now he had changed his mind. He didn’t like how quick Kakarot was to expect Vegeta would leave and ignore him again, and it pissed him off not to have seen these changes before. “No, I’ll come lie down with you.” He smiled then, trying to lighten the mood. “I know how you get when you don’t have me to use for a pillow.”

“Oh, okay.” Goku said, pleasantly surprised. It had been a while since he and Vegeta had just cuddled without sex being a factor, and he had missed it. Leaving the rest of his tea he stood up and walked to the bedroom, actually quite eager to lie down now that it had been suggested. The day so far had already taken it out of him.

Vegeta followed too, and soon they had pulled off their shoes, and in Vegeta’s case his armor, and had slipped under the covers. Goku hesitated about getting closer for a moment, until Vegeta raised his arm, motioning for Goku to come over already. Then Goku smiled and happily cuddled up against Vegeta’s chest, and Vegeta placed a heavy arm around him, pulling him close.

Tired after his emotional upheaval, Goku was quick to fall asleep. Vegeta listened to his even breathing for a while, but eventually he nodded off too.

xXx

They were on master Roshi’s island, sun shining, all his friends gathered. Someone kept telling him to eat a melon, but Goku didn’t want to. They were supposed to burst the melon open he tried to tell them. Trying to hit a watermelon with a bat while blindfolded was a strange, but time honored, summer tradition. They couldn’t do that if Goku ate it.

 _“But you already ate it_.” They all suddenly stated as one, and pointed at his stomach.

Goku looked down and saw that his belly was big and round, fit to bursting, like he’d swallowed the melon whole.

They all raised their bats. _“Now we’re gonna burst you open.”_

“No, please!” Goku couldn’t run, he couldn’t get his legs to move. “Don’t hurt me.” He bent over and curled up, arms around his belly. He had to protect it, but he couldn’t move. “Please!” He cried.

_“Kakarot!”_

The figures, no longer his friends, kept advancing. They were laughing, feeding of his fear.

“Kakarot!”

The advancing figures started dissolving. Goku struggled through molasses, the last dredges of the nightmare slow to let go. The fear stayed like a lump in his throat, and the first thing Goku did once he no longer felt paralyzed was to reach down and feel his belly.

“Are you in pain? Say something Kakarot!” Vegeta was kneeling beside him, eyes wide, a hand on his shoulder. He had been the one to shake Goku awake.

Goku felt his ki. There, under his own, a tiny little flame was still pulsing, albeit faster, as if the baby could tell he’d been afraid. Slowly Goku let out a shaky breath, even more exhausted now than before he had fallen asleep. He knew it hadn’t been real, but it had sure felt like it. This wasn’t the first strange and vivid dream he’d had lately, but it was the first time it had devolved into a nightmare. “I’m okay.” He stated, mostly to hear the words out loud, to reassure himself.

Vegeta too sighed at Goku’s words and lay back down, putting an arm around Goku and a hand on his belly. It covered the one Goku already had lying there. “Nightmare?”

“Yea…” Goku licked his upper lip, fear sweat slowly cooling. “People were coming after me with bats to burst me open, and somehow I knew that I couldn’t protect myself or even run.”

“Nothing like that will happen.” Vegeta told him factually, pulling him closer until they were spooning and their legs were entwined. “When your power weakens, I’ll still be here, and no one will get through me. I’ll fucking slaughter them if anyone tries.”

“How reassuring.” Goku responded, but was only half sarcastic. It did actually bring some comfort to know that Vegeta stood between Goku and anything which would try to harm him… or their child. Especially since Goku had already started feeling the effects of the child taking his energy for itself. He had noticed it earlier, when he had been meditating in the nature room. Maybe that was what had brought the nightmare on. He had known it would happen as he got further along, but he had still been unprepared for it.  

After lying restlessly for several minutes and staring into the darkness, Goku sighed and rolled over so he could see Vegeta’s face. “I can’t fall back asleep… Can we talk instead?”

Vegeta, who was also still awake, tensed slightly. “About what?” He asked cautiously.

“I don’t know… Anything, I guess?” Goku drew closer and nuzzled his way underneath Vegeta’s chin until he was breathing against the prince’s neck. “…There’s actually something that’s been bothering me.” Goku admitted after a moment.

Vegeta hummed inquiringly.

“…Back when we fought Recoome, he said something about you working for Frieza once?” Goku explained hesitantly. He wasn’t completely sure if it was a real memory or not, since he had been rather out of it from heat and shock at the time, but it had nagged at him ever since he’d recalled it.

Goku felt it as Vegeta froze up, muscles tensing. He knew he’d hit the nail on the head then. He hadn’t just imagined it.

“I didn’t think you were aware enough to overhear that.” Vegeta said slowly.

“I’ve been trying to recall what happened back then while I meditate.” Goku admitted. He thought it would be better to work through it rather than be suddenly surprised by an unwelcome memory. There was quite a bit of time missing for him from when he threw himself into the battle and until Vegeta snapped him out of it. “It popped up.”

Vegeta sighed. He hadn’t wanted to talk about this, had hoped that Goku would eventually hear through someone else, but maybe this was for the best. Tarble seemed to think it would help talking about himself more, and perhaps that was true. Vegeta could only hope. “It’s a pretty long, and not very happy story. Are you sure you want to hear it now?”

Goku cuddled closer, happy that Vegeta was willing to talk for once. “I’m sure.”

“Fine, just don’t come crying afterwards. It’s in the past, you can’t change it… And neither can I.” Vegeta told him, then closed his eyes. He drew in Kakarot’s sweet scent; it was even more saturated with pheromones meant to calm alphas down now that he was pregnant. A clever defense mechanism, and not one Vegeta was immune to. Hopefully it would help him keep a level head while talking about the past.

Vegeta moistened his lips, then slowly started talking. He’d take things from the beginning. “Frieza came to our planet when I was four, and suggested an alliance. He wanted to use us saiyans as warriors in the Planet Trade Organization. As a warrior people fond of conquest, my father and his counselors found no fault in this, and agreed. That was their first mistake.” Vegeta took a deep breath, trying to dampen down the anger that still always surfaced when he remembered what fools his father and his men had been back then. Refusing would probably have gotten them killed, Frieza’s veneer of politeness was very thin and entirely fabricated after all, but just agreeing like that was still distasteful.

“For a couple of years, things seemingly went without a hitch. We gave the PTO the scouter technology leftover from the Tuffles, and they overhauled our main cities to be gleaming chrome and glass instead of carved out of the planet’s rock. Perhaps the program to send children off on their own as planet busters should have brought us pause, but it never did. Back then too many children were created and born in artificial incubators, another technology given to us by the PTO. It freed the mothers to go fight, but it also completely removed the natural bonding between parents and cubs.”

They hadn’t known back then how important a role their natural biological and hormonal responses had been to keep the peace amongst their own people. Back then many people had stopped mating, instead they just handed off DNA to be used for offspring, and then didn’t involve themselves with those either. If it wasn’t for Frieza working them to the bone, they would probably have attacked each other with how unstable pack structures had gotten from that.

“I did wonder about that.” Goku admitted. “I know my parents sent me off to protect me, but Raditz told me about how many really were shipped off to conquer planets.” 

Vegeta realized that he’d trailed off, and picked the story back up. “We’ve always been a battle orientated species, and cubs would leave their family groups to join the army once they were ten. It didn’t seem like such a stretch, I suppose.” Saiyans matured quickly when it came to independent survival, even if their body was only fully grown much later. “Personally, I was 7 when Frieza demanded my father hand me over to him. My unusually high battle power had intrigued him, and he wanted to nourish my potential… Is what he said anyway.” Vegeta snorted. “I reality the rapid power growth of saiyans had started to concern him, and he feared we would join together and try to overthrow him, so he wanted me as a reassurance. A hostage.”

Goku frowned and ran a comforting hand down Vegeta’s tense back.

“Things started moving fast then. A low level saiyan team kept returning alive from near impossible missions, and their captain especially didn’t seem like he had a cap to his power growth. After a successful purge of planet Kanassa, which left the team leader wounded but alive, Frieza finally decided to do away with them.”

Goku thought this story sounded familiar to something Raditz had told him once. “This team leader…”

“Was your father, Bardock, yes.” Vegeta confirmed. “On their next mission, the rest of his team was attacked by Frieza’s elite and almost got butchered. Bardock got there in time to be brutalized too and was presumed dead. They all were. It left Frieza time to plan for the rest of our planet’s demise. Luckily for us, saiyans can survive a truly staggering amount of abuse, and Bardock dragged his carcass back home in secret. He got in contact with his old colleagues in the technology research division and they started working on the shield. After that he made his way into the castle, blasting his way through whoever tried to stop him, and told the king what had happened; of visions he’d had of our planet getting destroyed by Frieza, and all of us with it. Of course my father thought he was a raving lunatic, but just then Frieza sent out the order for all saiyans to return to Planet Vegeta within the next month, and to stay there until further notice. It aligned with Bardock’s claims enough that my father grew hesitant and chose to fund the research project of the shield in secret. The fact that Frieza wanted to round us up before he annihilated us was all that saved our race; it bought us time.”

Goku made a noise to show he was still listening. “Then my dad sent me off because he wasn’t sure the shield would work, and told Raditz not to come back. Right?”

“Essentially. As for me, I was still returning to Frieza’s ship whenever I wasn’t on purging missions, and my father knew I’d be killed if the shield went up and I was still in Frieza’s clutches, but he saw no way to get me back. In the end it was determined that I be sacrificed.” Vegeta said it quite calmly, as if he saw the reason for such a decision.

Goku took it less well. He sat up and stared down at Vegeta with disbelief. “What?! But you’re his son!”

Vegeta looked back steadily. “And he was the king of an entire planet full of people. Saving me could have tipped Frieza off to their plans, and despite my power, his counselors wouldn’t condone it. I was not worth our entire race.”

“B-but…” Goku placed a hand on his belly. He might not really understand what his body was going through, but he knew that at the end of it he would have a child. The idea of handing it over to someone who would hurt it… “That’s horrible.”

Vegeta shrugged. “My mother thought so too, so on the last day before the shield was supposed to go up, she staged a rescue mission despite my father’s commands, and she and her closest allies infiltrated Frieza’s ship in a bit to get me.” Vegeta closed his eyes. Despite his apparent nonchalance, he did not like to speak of this.

“I wasn’t on the ship though, I was off purging a planet together with Raditz, and so my mother and her men were caught and summarily killed by Frieza himself. She wasted her life, and tipped him off. It was a damn miracle that they got the shield up in time, and even then several people were caught outside, too close to Frieza’s forces to hide in time.”

Goku stared at him. “You sound like you think your mother was stupid.”

“I do think so. Self-sacrifice is foolish, seeing as you’re ending yourself to save someone who was too weak to do it themselves; and that’s just unnatural.” Vegeta responded harshly, but factually.

Goku pulled away with a frown. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh?”

“She didn’t know you weren’t there; she could have succeeded.” Goku, still seated, looked down into Vegeta’s dark eyes. “She probably knew going in that there was a high chance that she’d fail and die, but she loved you so much that she tried anyway. I don’t think that’s stupid at all, I think it’s brave.”     

Vegeta stared up at his mate, lost for words. He had never tried thinking about his mother’s death like that, mostly because, to tell the truth, it would be too painful. Vegeta closed his eyes and turned his head away. “It’s years ago now. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Goku privately thought it still mattered quite a bit, but didn’t try to push. He could tell that the fact that Vegeta was even talking about all this was taking its toll on the prince. Knowing this, Goku slightly changed the subject. “How did you survive then? You said Frieza would kill you once the shield went up and his plan was foiled.”

“I said my father and everyone else had assumed so, but in reality he was planning on keeping me all along, as a final mockery to our race: The prince of all saiyans, now nothing but a pet.” Vegeta growled.

Goku laid down next to Vegeta again, hoping his proximity would help. He knew his scent calmed his mate, much like his alpha’s did for him. Vegeta put an arm around him and pulled him close.

Vegeta drew in his mate’s scent, closed his eyes and continued. “As you know, the shield prevents long range communication, so as far as I knew planet Vegeta might as well have been hit by a meteor leaving nothing but dead space in its wake. That was the lie I was fed over my scouter, and I hadn’t been told of anything else, not about the shield or what Frieza had planned to do, so I had no reason to doubt it. Had I been alone, I probably would have believed it, young as I was.” Vegeta said thoughtfully as he ran fingers through Goku’s soft hair.

“I wasn’t alone though. Raditz was with me and he _had_ overhead something, namely his father and mother talking, arguing about sending you off the planet. That coupled with how he’d been told to stay away, made us grow suspicious. After some deliberation, we decided that only I would go back to Frieza’s ship. I’d tell them that Raditz had died during the mission, but secretly stay in contact with him, so we could both get away if something fishy was going on.” Vegeta smiled grimly at the memory.

“We didn’t know it at the time, but it was this decision that allowed me to become a spy. When I got back, everyone kept up with the fake story, and I started believing it was actually true. Frieza gave me his condolences, and lamented how he had lost so many strong soldiers. I was about to call Raditz back, to tell them he had miraculously survived so I wouldn’t be on my own, but luckily he managed to meet up with other saiyan survivors first. They _did_ know the real story, and after having heard it, Raditz was quick to impart the knowledge to me.”

“How come you didn’t run away then?” Goku asked, confused.

Vegeta snorted. “What good would that have done? No. I stayed, and I got my hands on every spare piece of information I could. That bastard tried to kill my birthright, I wasn’t just going to let him get away with it.”

It hadn’t been an easy decision, and Vegeta had known he would need to play oblivious to the truth or find some other excuse to explain why he’d stay in Frieza’s employ, something that would be difficult. But even back then, Vegeta had been a very determined person. “First priority was where Frieza would search for saiyan survivors and send his men out to kill them, and quite a few managed to get away thanks to my warnings. As the remaining saiyans gathered and tried to form some sort of cohesive unit on their own, now that they were cut off from communication with planet Vegeta, it was decided that only a few would be made aware of my status as a spy. The higher ranked warriors knew it would be war between us and Frieza, and soldiers can easily be captured and tortured for information. The only way to keep me safe was for everyone else to think I was a traitor. That way they couldn’t sell me out.”

Goku had a feeling he wouldn’t like the answer to his next question, but asked it anyway. “How long were you a spy?”

“…For seven years.” Vegeta admitted, then sighed. “I was fourteen when I was found out and had to flee, but before that I kept up appearance.” Vegeta turned around to lie on his side, until he could look Goku in the eyes. “I think you can imagine what that entailed, Kakarot. Planet purges, assassinations… Even killing other saiyans. If Frieza ordered it, I had to do it or risk exposure, and that bastard had some sick games. He loved seeing how far he could push me before I would refuse…” Vegeta closed his eyes, a flicker of remembered pain briefly contorting his face. “I quickly learned not to.”

Back then, the knowledge that he was still a prince, that he had a goal, had kept him going and his mind stable enough to do what he needed to despite the treatment he got. If he hadn’t had that… Vegeta knew he probably _would_ have gone insane, instead of just pretending to be.

“Vegeta…” Goku said, voice weak. He reached out and pulled his mate into a hug. Maybe he should be horrified about the things Vegeta had probably done during that time, but he just didn’t feel it. Instead he was just sad.

When he was seven, Goku had been happily splashing in the clear streams of Mount Paozu, trying to catch the glinting fish. He’d spent his days playing, without a care in the world. Vegeta had been a soldier even before that age… It was disturbing to think about. Goku felt for his child’s ki again, warm and bright, nestled under his own, and promised himself something: He wouldn’t let his kid go through that. He’d teach it to fight, but only so he or she had a last resort. Until they got older, they were Goku’s to protect.

“After I came back, there were a lot of saiyans who hated me.” Vegeta continued, drawing Goku out of his thoughts. “No wonder really; for them I had been nothing but a traitor for years; Frieza’s rabid dog, the one he sent after you when he wanted you dead.” Vegeta chuckled darkly. “Of course they were all too weak to do anything about it.”

“But didn’t the information you sent back help them during all those years?” Goku asked.

Vegeta scoffed. “Of course it did. Our forces knew when to pull out of a battle or retreat from somewhere thanks to my info. They knew what planets to evacuate before they were purged to gain allies. It didn’t change the fact that I had tortured and killed their friends and family members under Frieza’s orders though.”

“But you had no—“

“Choice? Maybe not. I made one after I came back though.” Vegeta told him.

“What was it?” Goku asked carefully.

“That I would never again kill another saiyan under orders from someone else.” Vegeta stated. Of course he’d still rip the head off of anyone he personally didn’t like, but that was different. That would be his own decision, one he was free to make.

“I see…” Goku rested his ear against Vegeta’s chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. “Thank you for telling me.” He knew Vegeta’s promise marked the end of the story, and didn’t currently feel like pushing for more.

Vegeta just grunted, by now thoroughly tired from talking. He’d never had to recount his past like that to anyone before, all people in the Saiyan Army, saiyans and other aliens alike, already knowing about it.

It was true that he had glossed over most of the things really involving him, talking only briefly of those seven years. It didn’t matter though. Kakarot now knew the circumstances surrounding Vegeta’s past at least, and that would have to be enough. There was no reason to dredge up the specifics, especially when it would do nothing but upset the beta. The kind of character Vegeta had been back then… Well, it had started out as an act; as him pretending that his unusually heightened power had fried his brain enough to make him axe-crazy, something that could actually happen for saiyan children born with too high powers. Over time it had become harder and harder to separate fact from fiction though, and even to this day, Vegeta sometimes felt himself slipping into the mindset he’d had back then. The uncaring, blood crazed haze… But disregarding the mental scars and the underlying psychological issues following years of conditioning, torture and effectively turning off his own emotions as self-defense, Vegeta still felt like he’d come out on top.

“Well, now you know.” Vegeta finally responded, after half a minute or so. “Get some sleep now.”

Goku was about to, but opened his eyes again when he felt Vegeta getting up. “Where are you going?”

“It’s still the middle of the day, and I’ve slept for long enough. I’m going to call for some food and wake you when it gets here.” And spend some time in the gravity room punching out his frustration in the meantime. There were reasons Vegeta didn’t like talking about the past.

“Mmh… Okay.” Goku mumbled and curled up around a pillow.

Vegeta watched him for a moment, then picked his armor back up and walked out.

After having redressed and called the kitchens, Vegeta was ready to leave. Only, before he could, a message beeped in on his scouter.

 _“Uh, prince Vegeta?”_ A timid communications officer asked.

“You called my direct line. Who else would it be?! What do you want, tell me.” Vegeta snapped back, frankly not wanting to deal with it, whatever it was.

_“I-I’m sorry sir! There’s been a request for a conference call made for you. It should tick in on your room’s communication screen in a moment if you accept it.”_

“By _who_? That’s probably the most important information, yet you left it out.” Vegeta asked, already annoyed by this dumbass.

_“B-Bardock, sir! He said it was important.”_

“Bardock?” Vegeta mumbled in surprise. Why would he be calling? Vegeta knew that Kakarot had been dodging him, but he didn’t think something like that would bother Bardock enough to actually call, so it had to be something else. “Fine, let him through.”

_“Yes s-sir!”_

“And for gods sake stop it with the stuttering.” Vegeta growled, then terminated the call. Only seconds later the big screen on the wall lit up, and soon after Bardock appeared on it, his arms crossed and expression grim.

Vegeta sauntered over. “Well if it isn’t my father in law.” He snarked. “Finally calling to give your blessings?”

Bardock glared at him. “I’m calling because I had a vision, and I want my son to live. Now are you going to be of any help or not? Tell me, or I won’t bother.”

“Raditz?” Vegeta asked, mirth quickly escaping in the face of Bardock’s brusque statement. _Please let it be Raditz…_

“Try again.” Bardock said coldly.

Vegeta felt the blood slowly drain from his face. “Kakarot…” He breathed.

This time, Bardock nodded.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vegeta isn't completely blind to his on crazy; he just doesn't care. :3


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bardock’s sass level is over 9000.

_Last time:_

_Bardock glared at him. “I’m calling because I had a vision, and I want my son to live. Now are you going to be of any help or not? Tell me, or I won’t bother.”_

_“Raditz?” Vegeta asked, mirth quickly escaping. Please let it be Raditz…_

_“Try again.” Bardock said coldly._

_Vegeta felt the blood slowly drain from his face. “Kakarot…” He breathed._

_This time, Bardock nodded._

xXx

Vegeta stared at the older man on the screen. “No. I refuse to believe you. Whatever it was you saw, it can’t be true. Kakarot won’t be in any danger here, I’ve made absolutely sure that—“

“From any outside forces, maybe.” Bardock said, breaking off Vegeta’s rant before he could really get going. “But as it is his ‘killer’ is already inside, so why don’t you shut up and listen for once instead of being a brat.”

Vegeta bristled, tail fur standing on end. “How dare you talk to me like that?!” He yelled, but his mind was already running away with what Bardock had said. A killer? Inside already? How had they missed him?!

Bardock snorted. “You went and mated my son. We’re family now; I’ll talk to you however I damn well want.” His tone of voice made it clear how ‘happy’ he was about the prospect. “Now, sit yourself down. Is Kakarot there? He shouldn’t overhear.”

Teeth gritted, Vegeta slowly did as he was told. If Bardock held a clue to something that would harm Kakarot, he had no choice. “He’s sleeping right now.”

“Good. Keep an ear on him so we won’t be disturbed.” Bardock told him, then cleared his voice. For a moment, he eyed Vegeta like he was sizing him up. “Well, you didn’t answer my question, but judging from the fact that you did as told instead of continuing to bitch, I’d say you at least somewhat care what happens to him.”

“Of course I care.” Vegeta growled, fists clenched. It took him a moment to realize what he’d just said, then his eyes widened and he mentally cursed. It was bad enough that he had realized for himself, other people weren’t supposed to know!

Bardock smirked. “Good. Listen up then.” His expression grew serious once more. “I had a vision of Kakarot dying in childbirth. At this rate, he probably will.”

Vegeta felt his heart stop beating and his breath leave his lungs. The statement hung in the air, heavy and merciless. “He… In childbirth? I— _No_!”

“Calm your tits.” Bardock told him, a bit surprised by how visibly shaken Vegeta was by the news. The prince was pale, eye whites showing and his hands trembling. “…Your son lives.” Bardock informed him after a moment, as a small band aid.

This information did nothing to calm Vegeta down. He jumped up from the couch, hackles raised and eyes wild. “Who _cares_!?? If Kakarot dies, what will it matter?!” He didn’t mean that, of course it mattered, but Kakarot _couldn’t die_.

Bardock raised an eyebrow. Clearly getting Vegeta to cooperate would be easier than anticipated, if he was this affected, this _smitten_. _What the hell did Kakarot do to him to get him this wrapped around his finger?_ Bardock wondered, while mentally congratulating his son on the feat. “Personally I want them both to live, and I will need your help to make it happen.”

He watched Vegeta, who was panting wildly and wide eyed, for a moment, then motioned for the couch. “Why don’t you sit back down?” He asked, this time less harshly. Antagonizing his son in law was not nearly as satisfying when the idea of Kakarot’s death upset Vegeta this much, so Bardock reeled his hostility back a bit.

“I—Yes.” Vegeta said, still dizzy from the sudden swell of adrenaline being pumped around his body. There was no threat, he reminded himself; not yet.

Bardock watched him in silence until Vegeta had managed to gather his bearings, then continued. “In my vision, what killed Kakarot was power burn; which sounds entirely plausible given how strong your kid will probably be with you two as parents.”

“Power burn.” Vegeta repeated, cold sweat gathering in his hairline. Of course, he should have considered that! How stupid could he be to forget? Well, it was a rare condition, but at birth Vegeta himself had been just below the upper limit, so very close to being deemed too powerful to let live. “These days there are energy suppressors though, the kid’s brain is no longer in danger of frying before his body grows strong enough to handle the power.” Vegeta argued, not really seeing how this had anything to do with Kakarot.

Twenty years ago, that would not have been the case. Back then there was nothing to do but kill the child before it grew up to be an axe-crazy liability. Hell, Vegeta had used that very condition as an excuse to act out while he ‘worked’ for Frieza, stating that his father had spared him despite his too high readings, unwilling to kill his own son.                  

“You’re just thinking about the outlook for the child right now.” Bardock told him. “Which is no wonder really, seeing as the beta never lives to be a concern.”

Vegeta froze again and stared up at Bardock. He hadn’t known that. “They… Die?”

Bardock nodded, expression dark. “While in utero, the child absorbs their carrier’s power, slowly draining them. Then the trauma of birth causes them to take every last drop they can. The baby thinks it’s in danger, and inadvertently kills its parent.” He closed his eyes, face pained. “One of my fathers was a beta... He died giving birth to my younger brother, who was then killed, making the whole thing futile.”

Bardock’s beta parent had died young, and Bardock hadn’t known about him being a _male_ beta before he got a beta son himself. He had looked through the data bases to figure out how the hell _that_ had happened, and had been surprised and dismayed by his findings. He had written it off back then, thinking that the condition was so rare that it probably wouldn’t matter, and that even if it did, there was nothing he could do—No way to predict it. As useful as scouters were, they could not differentiate between the power of an unborn child and their parent, and the readings always came out blotched, making the doctors unable to predict which child would be born with power burn and which wouldn’t. Only the beta’s rapidly worsening condition during the last months could be a tip-off, and by then it was too late.

Vegeta stared blankly at the wall just below the screen for a while, trying to take that in. Kakarot’s grandfather had died in childbirth thanks to power burn too, so Kakarot was likely genetically predisposed to the condition. Even if they now possessed the technology to save the child, how could they save Kakarot? “What if we cut him open? A caesarian would be faster, and—“

“Same difference.” Bardock cut him off to say. “While it’s certainly faster, in all likelihood the child would still sense it and go into a panic, especially if Kakarot is stressed too.”

“…That’s why you don’t want him to know.” Vegeta realized, and looked up at Bardock again. He had wondered why Bardock wanted to talk with him alone, but this made sense.

“Yes.” Bardock confirmed. “For now on it’s important that he goes through his pregnancy as stress free as possible, or he might not even make to the birth date. The child responds to high stress or fear as a threat, and sucks power accordingly.”

Vegeta winced, thinking about what had happened earlier that day. Keeping Kakarot happy had suddenly just become even more important than before. “But what can we do then? If the whole thing hinges on getting the baby safely out of him, and if there’s no way to do that, then…”

Bardock’s lips thinned. “I don’t have a concrete solution yet, but I do have two possible solutions to work towards. One; somehow disconnecting the child from Kakarot’s energy, at least enough that it can longer kill him, or two; somehow make sure Kakarot has more energy than the child needs during labor.” Bardock ran a hand through his hair and looked to the side. “I’m not sure how to do either though, and both place a higher risk on the kid. The first for starving him from his parent’s energy, and the second for possibly boiling his brain with it.”

Vegeta looked down, hands fisted on his knees so hard that it hurt. “I… I can’t lose them both.” He couldn’t lose _either_ , damnit. Not only would nobody ever let him forget it, blaming him for choosing someone too weak to carry his child to term, or for choosing his mate over his heir, but their deaths might be the last drop to finally push Vegeta off the cliff of insanity.      

“For now getting someone with actual knowledge about male beta pregnancies and births would be best, but I’ve been looking, and there doesn’t seem to be any.” Bardock grumped, arms crossed. “Only this one weirdo on Checkpoint 8 seems to have an overenthusiastic interest in the subject, but that’s as close as I got.”

“Checkpoint 8?” Vegeta repeated, and then looked up. “Do you mean Basil? _He_ ’ _s_ an obstetrician?!”

“Apparently.” Bardock said, also looking doubtful. “At least he was before he got caught outside the shield. Not sure how much he’s had use of it since then.”

Vegeta ran a hand through his hair, then over his face. “It’s better than nothing. If it’s that research crazed doctor, then maybe, just maybe, he’ll come up with something useful.” If Vegeta remembered correctly, Kakarot was also friends with a girl working as a medic there. He couldn’t remember her name, but he’d seen them talk on the communications screen enough times by now to at least take a small note of her. A petite woman, messy short brown hair, laughed really obnoxiously when very amused… That was all he remembered. Perhaps bringing her here would keep Kakarot happy though. “I’m getting Raditz to come back here too.” Vegeta decided at the same time. Raditz might be an oaf, but Kakarot seemed to miss him, and Vegeta was willing to put up with the hairball if it improved Kakarot’s mood.

“Let me guess, to make Kakarot happy?” Bardock shook his head. “He’s too much like his mother that kid.” He mumbled. “Anyway, that’s all for now. I compiled a file of all recorded births where power burn was involved. I’ll send it to you, so look it over, but keep it on the down low.” Bardock told him.

“Tch. Of course, I’m not an idiot.” Vegeta told him with a glare. The last thing they needed was people gossiping or freaking out about this. Besides that, Vegeta doubted that Bardock had gotten those files by legal means. That man was a little _too_ skilled when it came to breaking into supposedly securely encrypted systems. It was one of the many reasons Vegeta didn’t like Bardock, yet had no real desire to make an enemy of him.  

“That’s debatable.” Bardock stated, and then ended the call before Vegeta could yell at him.

Vegeta stayed sitting in the sofa for a while after that, his desire to train having completely evaporated. The food arrived, and Vegeta didn’t bother to let them in, simply ordered the automatic doors to open. The servers watched his brooding silence with nervous expressions, and didn’t try to hang around to catch a glimpse of Kakarot, even though getting within ten feet of the overly (in)famous royal consort was all anybody seemed to care about these days.

“Vegeta?” Goku appeared from within the bedroom, rubbing his bleary eyes as he stumbled towards the food table. “You didn’t wake me.” He complained, having been roused by the scent of food instead. He started filling a plate, his coordination still a bit off from sleepiness. A couple of meatballs escaped and rolled to the floor.

Vegeta watched him in silence.

Goku didn’t really notice until he had sat down and was about to begin stuffing his cheeks, but then he caught a glimpse of his mate’s expression. Goku frowned, concerned by what he saw there. “Is something wrong? You look... Pale.” Scared was more like it, but Goku didn’t think Vegeta would appreciate it being pointed out.

“I always have things to worry about. Pay it no mind.” Vegeta said, snapping out of his staring. No matter what he felt, he couldn’t afford to tip off Kakarot or make him worried.   

“Okaaay?” Goku said, drawn out and unconvinced. He decided to shrug it off though, and instead focused back on his food. Vegeta would tell him if it was important, or something he could help with. Until then Goku would let it be.

xXx

The file Bardock had given Vegeta hadn’t been encouraging reading. Blood loss, exhaustion and sudden heart failure were cited as the official courses of death for the betas, but while the first two might have influenced the outcome, the latter was definitely a result of the power drain.

There weren’t a lot of cases though, only nine spanning the last twenty-five years. There had been one in the same year as Kakarot was born, even the same day, curiously enough. That case worried Vegeta more than the others because the mother had died before the child was even out of her, and the boy had been delivered post mortem. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the child’s power level, only that he had been too dangerous to let live.

Next thing Vegeta had done was read up on energy suppression technology, something he knew Bardock was doing too. After delivery, restraints could be used on the child to make sure its body and mind had a chance to develop before its massive energy caused it unintentional damage. If they could somehow use that technology, but _before_ the baby was ready to be born, then maybe Kakarot stood a chance.

Vegeta also searched through their data bases for any planets, or any species, who were known or even just rumored to be capable of exercising power control over someone else. Unfortunately, the strange ability from Earth to control your own power output was the closest he got, and that didn’t help him much. He didn’t stop looking though.

Every day Vegeta would search for a solution, more and more frantically as the days went by and then turned to weeks. He had research teams working on it too, despite them not knowing the exact reason.

Meanwhile Kakarot had entered the part of pregnancy where his stomach suddenly decided to bulge out, and it was now very visible that he was with child. Vegeta would have enjoyed the sight of his mate glowing and laughing again, much happier now that he got more free time and attention, if Kakarot’s rapidly growing belly hadn’t also signified a fatal deadline pushing closer.

xXx

Goku stretched and yawned after waking from his nap. Sleepily he stumbled towards the bathroom, but stopped and stuck his head into the living room first to check what Vegeta was doing.

The prince was sitting at the dining table, bent over files, with several see-through screens hovering in front of him and a frown on his face. Goku tilted his head curiously, but was too far away to decipher what any of the text displayed there said. Even if he had been closer though, his Galactic Standard still wasn’t the greatest. Goku knew that Vegeta was working on something important, and that it was stressing him out, but had so far been unable to get his mate to tell him what it was about.

At least Vegeta spent more time with Goku these days, and actually encouraged him to talk in his own ways, so that was always something. Vegeta wasn’t prone to starting conversations or telling stories on his own, but had become quite adept at asking things like ‘and then what happened?’ or ‘so what did you think about that?’. He would also talk when prompted by Goku to do so, even if his story telling wasn’t the best and often ended with ‘and then I killed them.’ Maybe it wasn’t much, but for Goku it made all the difference. The oppressive grey feeling in his chest wasn’t as bad anymore, and thanks to getting more sleep and rest, his mood had become less unstable.  

Leaving his mate to his work, Goku went to finish his business in the bathroom, while he wondered what he should eat as a snack. He was washing his hands when the strange bubbling in his belly started again. Or maybe flutter was more correct? Slowly Goku dried his hands while frowning down at his protruding abdomen. “Doesn’t really feel like gas.” He mumbled as he walked back to the bedroom, while running a thoughtful hand over his stretched skin. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, not with all the heat flashes he got these days.

The flutter happened again, more to the right side of his belly. Goku sat down on the bed, curious about the sensation. He had felt it several times before, but it seemed to be growing stronger. He placed his hand against where he’d just felt the flutter, amused by how it seemed to move around, when something quite unmistakably nudged his palm. Goku froze, eyes wide. That—That had come from inside!

“VEGETA!”

A crash sounded from the living room, probably Vegeta vaulting over the dining table in his hurry to get to Goku after hearing him scream. Seconds later Vegeta appeared in the bedroom, a wild expression on his face. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did you fall?” He looked around, teeth bared. “I don’t feel anyone’s presence, did someone leave a trap?”

Goku stared at him, unable to get words out. Instead he motioned for Vegeta to come closer, which the alpha immediately did. As soon as he was in range, Goku grabbed Vegeta’s hand and placed it on his belly. Vegeta eyed him, still worried, instincts not completely convinced that there wasn’t going to be an attack. “Why are you—“ He broke off when he felt it. Vegeta opened and closed his mouth like a fish, then finally found his words. “The child is kicking.”

“Yea…” Goku croaked, voice suddenly thick with tears. It hadn’t seemed real; being told he was pregnant, knowing there was a baby growing inside him, none of it had really computed. Strange as it sounded, he hadn’t _understood_. But feeling his child move…

Goku’s eyes found Vegeta’s just as he felt the first tears spill. “We’re having a _kid_ , Vegeta.” He stated, emotions swirling. “I—I’m going to be a _dad_.”

“I… Know?” Vegeta responded slowly, while he carefully watched his mate’s tearstained face.

Goku’s expression slowly crumbled and he started bawling. This time, he didn’t even care.

Wide-eyed Vegeta hurried to move closer and pull Goku into an embrace, then started stroking his hair. This wasn’t Vegeta’s first rodeo when it came to sudden volatile pregnancy mood swings, though this one… It was a bit different. ‘ _He finally gets it.’_   Vegeta thought, as Goku proceeded to cry and snot against his shoulder.

“Why do I feel so much? I haven’t even seen him yet, but I—“ Goku hiccupped, unable to stop his tears. “I wan—I wanna meet him. Hold him.”

Vegeta closed his eyes, cold tendrils of dread once again spreading in his chest. For just a moment he had forgotten… Vegeta clenched his jaw and pulled Goku even closer, drawing in his sweet scent. “I’ll make sure you get to. I promise.”    

xXx

Vegeta flicked a pen between his fingers as he read over the personal transfer approval and its sub-clauses. The fact that Raditz’ transfer was taking a while to go through, Vegeta could live with, but the others not so much. 

Dr. Basil had been called and made aware, as one of the few, of what Vegeta knew would happen thanks to Bardock’s vision. Basil had been intrigued, and was currently packing up and making ready to be transferred. Unfortunately moving Basil meant someone else had to be found for his position first, and it was all taking longer than Vegeta liked. He would prefer the doctor be here _now_ , so that Kakarot had another professional to keep an eye on his progress.

Speaking of the beta, Vegeta made sure to keep a close eye on him. Already Vegeta could sense how Kakarot’s energy was diminishing, and the younger man seemed to feel it too, even if he wasn’t complaining. Especially since the child started kicking, Kakarot’s movements had gotten slower, and he tired out more easily. Common pregnancy symptoms for anyone watching from the outside, but Vegeta knew the truth. Kakarot was strong and well trained, his stomach might be lager, but he was still a bundle of lean and well defined muscles. He shouldn’t be so easily exhausted in the end of the second trimester, and yet… 

Right now Vegeta was watching Kakarot return from the bathroom for the umpteenth time that day, a hand on his belly and complaining loudly.

“Why do you have to jump on my bladder like that? I know there’s not a lot of room in there, but give it a rest already. I’ll even eat some of those disgusting Senkyal pickles you seem to like.” Kakarot said, talking to the child.

That was another rather new development; ever since Coquille had told him to, Kakarot had started talking to the kid, but after feeling it move the beta had started doing so unprompted, even happily. Vegeta knew it was a ploy to foster a connection between mother and child, but hadn’t discouraged it at all, more the opposite in fact.

“Maybe if you didn’t drink so much chachan juice it wouldn’t be a problem.” Vegeta told him, faintly amused. “He probably thinks you’re trying to drown him.”

Kakarot slumped down on the couch again and struggled around until his pillows were fluffed just right and his legs were up and comfortably covered. “You’re the one who keeps telling me to hydrate. Take it up with your son if you two disagree so much.” Kakarot grumped and defiantly picked up his glass of chachan juice, then took another pull.

They had started calling the baby a boy; Vegeta because he knew from Bardock, and Kakarot probably out of easiness. Coquille had scanned the baby, and they had seen it, but the boy hadn’t felt like showing them the goods, and had kept everything neatly covered with his little tail.

Vegeta abandoned his work and moved closer, until he was sitting on the edge of the couch, next to Kakarot. He placed a hand over his mate’s belly, feeling how the warm skin stretched underneath his tunic. Kakarot watched him attentively, always interested in seeing how Vegeta interacted with their child. “Hello brat. Your mother needs his rest, so stop your gymnastics. You can start your warriors training once you get out.”

Probably able to sense him, the kid nudged obligingly against Vegeta’s palm, as if saying ‘I heard you dad, I just don’t care’. Vegeta snorted in amusement.  

“He always moves when he hears you.” Kakarot said, eyes gentle, gaze resting on his belly where Vegeta’s hand lay. Ever since Kakarot had first felt the child move, when he’d first realized what it was, it had marked a significant change in the beta’s approach to the whole thing. Back when Kakarot had looked up at Vegeta, and with a shaking, tear strained voice told him that _they were having a kid_ , as if that reality had only just occurred to him, Vegeta had seen him finally settle in his own skin and start looking forward to meeting his son.

“Hmpf. I’m his father. He should get into the habit of listening to me.” Vegeta said, trying to focus on the moment instead of that uncertain future.

“You just asked him to calm down though.” Kakarot laughed. “So that doesn’t seem very promising.”

Vegeta growled playfully and leaned closer. “I bet he gets that bratty attitude from you.” He said, then caught Kakarot’s lips with a kiss. He felt Kakarot laugh quietly against his mouth before kissing back.

Stressed and scared for the future as he might be, Vegeta didn’t hate his child, or Kakarot, for the fate currently awaiting them. If anything his anger was aimed at himself, for not having found a way to save them yet. Vegeta’s one job as an alpha was to protect his mate, and right now he was failing miserably. He could keep Kakarot happy and content, but the clock was ticking.

Vegeta brought his free hand up and tilted Kakarot’s face to kiss him more deeply.

He had to find a way to keep this, he had to. Kakarot was _his_ and no one stole Vegeta’s things, not even death.                       

xXx

The hanger of Base One might be big, but it was crowded as always. Raditz had to elbow his way through a throng of people just to advance. He grumbled and hefted his knapsack more firmly over his shoulder as he tried to squeeze his way through the chaos.

Suddenly the crowd started parting like the red sea, and the cause soon became apparent.

“Raditz!” Goku came running towards him, eyes sparkling, and threw himself at his older brother. Raditz grunted from the impact and had to drop his luggage to catch him. “Fuck. Be careful you idiot, you’re already past five months!” He scolded, even as Goku nuzzled against his shoulder and neck.

“I can’t believe you left for so long.” Goku accused, even as he kept on hugging.

Raditz sighed, figuring he might as well get used to having a clinging limpet again. “Yea well, I didn’t want to cheat myself into a job here via connections. It’s not cool.” Even though that was exactly what had ended up happening anyway. Well, sort of. Being employed as his brother’s bodyguard, read; glorified babysitter, was less of a job and more of a ploy to keep Goku happy. Raditz had been contacted by their father too, a short message with little to no detail, just the order to ‘watch your brother’.

Raditz didn’t like it. Their father rarely did anything without reason, and the sudden focus on Goku left Raditz worried.

“I’m happy you’re back though.” Goku informed him, finally pulling back and grabbing Raditz’ hand to drag him along. “Come on, we’re having a family dinner upstairs.”

“Dinner with the in-laws? Oh joy.” Raditz deadpanned, but let himself be dragged along anyway.

Goku chatted happily as they made their way towards the upper levels, but would stop to catch his breath every now and then, often leaning on the wall with a hand on his stomach too. Raditz eyed him when he did, feeling unease begin to bubble in his chest for every repeat. Was it normal to feel that easily tired when pregnant?

Finally they arrived, and Goku staggered past the two princes who were already inside and straight to the couch where he slumped down with a groan. Vegeta was next to him with a glass of water almost instantly, and Raditz raised an eyebrow at the sight.

“You’ll get used to it.” Tarble whispered to Raditz, having come to stand next to him. “Vegeta rarely leaves him out of sight these days, and frankly I don’t think Goku minds it.”

Raditz snorted in amusement. He’d known Vegeta since they were kids, had even been privy to him being a double agent while most other saiyans remained unaware, but he had never even tried to picture the other man doting on his mate. It seemed too farfetched. The fact that Vegeta’s chosen was Raditz’ little brother only made it weirder.

“Do you need to have your legs up?” Vegeta was asking Goku, while eyeing his legs to see if they had swollen. The beta got dizzy sometimes too now, and had fainted once after standing up too fast. Coquille assured them that it was normal, but Vegeta would feel better once Basil got here and they had a doctor who had actually dealt with saiyan pregnancies before.

“Nah, I’m fine right now. My center of gravity is just changing, I’ll get used to it eventually.” Goku excused his breathlessness with.     

Tarble clapped his hands to call for attention. “Well, let us eat then, shall we?”

They all sat down at the dining table, and for a while all conversation died, the saiyans too busy eating to talk. After the plates and trays had been thoroughly ravaged, they leaned back, full and temporarily satisfied.  

Raditz eyed his brother with a bit of concern. “Are you sure you’re already full? Your portion wasn’t very big.”

“If I eat too much too fast I’m repaid with heartburn. I’ll eat again later.” Goku explained.

“I’ll make sure we bring some on the trip then.” Vegeta said, eyes focused on his wrist pad as he plodded something in on it.

Raditz raised an eyebrow. “A trip? I just got here you know.”

Vegeta didn’t even glance at him. “I know, and now you get to accompany your brother to a hot spring while I play at diplomacy.”

Tarble leaned over the table. “Please actually try to stay polite Vegeta. Contacting these people was your idea to begin with.” Even though the crown prince refused to tell Tarble his reasons for wanting to visit an unimportant planet on the edges of the quadrant, which wasn’t known for much more than its nice resorts.

“I know. I’ll gain their cooperation no matter what, but I’ll try the ‘nice’ way first.” Vegeta stated with a smirk.

Goku smacked his mate reproachfully on the shoulder. “You mean you’ll make it work.” Goku lifted a finger. “No murder, kay?”

Raditz felt like he was watching someone scold their misbehaved pet, and half expected Vegeta to flip out, but the crown prince just rolled his eyes and grabbed Goku’s raised hand to pull it down. “I won’t be the first aggressor.” He promised, which was as close to a compromise as he was willing to get.

Goku smiled, satisfied with that, and weaved their fingers together. “Good. I don’t want my first trip outside in forever being cut short.”

Raditz sighed and silently thought he’d like not to go at all.

xXx

The trip to their destination lasted four days, and during that time Raditz was confirmed in his suspicion that road tripping anywhere with Goku would be a nightmare. Vegeta seemed to get around the beta’s endless questions by dragging him to their bunk and presumably tiring him out, but Raditz only found this to be even worse. He would happily go the rest of his life without ever again seeing his brother’s stupid blissed out post coitus expression, and even then Raditz suspected that he had been mentally scarred by it.

They arrived just before Raditz could go through with his plan to fling himself out of the airlock and into empty space to get away.    

Planet Kullurian had a very varied climate, but it was cold where they landed. Raditz looked outside with a frown; he wasn’t very fond of snow. Next to him Goku was practically vibrating with glee. “It’s a snow planet!” He excitedly turned to watch his mate. “Vegeta! You didn’t tell me it was a snow planet!”

Vegeta smirked at him as he gathered their sparse luggage. “I thought you might appreciate the nostalgia.”

Goku laughed, and Raditz was forced to remember that, oh yea, the first mission the two morons had been on together had been on Gultark where it snowed all the freakin time. “So you’re recreating your first outing. How lovely.”

“Shut up Raditz.” Vegeta snapped, mood doing a complete 180 turn whenever he was talking to his brother in law instead of Goku. Then he looked over at Goku, expression milder. “Get dressed Kakarot. I know you get hot quickly these days, but there’s a procession meeting us outside and I don’t know how longwinded it’ll be.”

“Okay.” Goku said easily, and quickly started pulling on his outer layers. Raditz watched him get dressed with a raised eyebrow, and wondered if his brother’s rather regal fur-lined get up was a personal choice or more of Vegeta’s machinations. The tunics and pants Goku wore these days were also generally considered as ‘fancy clothes’, with the silky materials, bright colors and gold trims. Goku seemed to wear them because he found them comfortable though, and Raditz doubted that he had any idea about how dressed up he looked.      

Outside the wind was biting, but the saiyans didn’t flinch in the face of the icy air. The guards Vegeta had brought were already standing in two lines on each side of the ship’s ramp, alert and ready to receive orders. Vegeta ignored them as he walked past, attention solely focused on the official looking group of aliens waiting for them and on supporting his somewhat waddling mate. Goku meanwhile waved at the guards with a gently approving expression, and Raditz caught several of them straightening up at the prince consort’s attention. Raditz stayed behind his brother and prince, and watched as an elderly looking Kulran stepped forward to greet the royal pair.

“Welcome prince Vegeta, to Kullurian. This village is called Trodok and I am Minkou; the head priestess of this sacred place of healing.” The feathered lizard like alien greeted them, her long blue tongue briefly darting out to taste the air. “It is a surprising honor to receive a visit from the highest commander of the Saiyan Coalition, and I see you even brought your mate.”

Her colorful blue, green and purple feathers fluffed up when a particularly cold gust of wind hit them from the side, but she continued undaunted. “We don’t see much action in these parts, being so well established as a neutral planet…” Her completely black bird-like eyes seemed to glint. “I don’t suppose you’re here to change that?” There was a definite warning in her tone.

Vegeta snorted, and shook his head. “I’m well aware of why you’ve been left alone for so long despite your fertile planet. Your abilities are the exact reason I have come—“

“And for the hot-springs.” Goku added excitedly, unintentionally cutting Vegeta off. When the prince sent him a warning glare, Goku laughed apologetically and nervously scratched his hair. “Ah, sorry ‘Geta, I’m just exited. It’s so pretty here and I can smell the springs!”

Raditz carefully lifted his nose, and sure enough, the faint hint of sulfur and other minerals could be detected swirling through the air. He disagreed with his brother’s definition of calling the place ‘pretty’ though; it was just snow, ice and cottages. Even if some of the ice was carved into sculptures, Raditz had seen many things much more impressive than this.

Unintended and somewhat rude as Goku’s interruption may have been, it seemed to break the tension in the air. The head priestess’s feathers sleeked back down, and she tilted her head curiously towards Goku to eye him better. “You would travel so far just to use our waters?” Her black eyes seemed to take him in, and her tongue once more darted out to taste the air. “Ah… You are with child.”

Goku smiled and patted his belly. “Jup. Don’t know how you guys do it, but I’ve got about another 3 months of carrying this one. He’s getting pretty heavy for my back.” Goku laughed, rubbing his back tellingly.

Vegeta had watched his mate with an unreadable face, but now turned his focus back to the head priestess. “I’m here with a… Sensitive matter. I hope you’ll welcome us and hear me out before sending us away.”

The priestess clicked her beak thoughtfully and eyed Vegeta. “Hmm, yes. I don’t suppose you would have brought your pregnant mate had your intentions been of a violent nature.” She unfurled a wing from her body, which had until now blended with the rest of her thick feathers, and used it to motion towards the bigger houses in the distance. “We will put you up, for now. At least your mate should be allowed to rest after your journey.”

Vegeta slightly inclined his head as a show of gratitude, and placed a hand on Goku’s back to lead him along. Goku smiled at him. “Does that mean I get to use the springs?”

“You can use them together with Raditz while I talk to the priestess; I know you don’t care for long complicated talks anyway.” Vegeta said, being rather invested in getting Goku out of the way so he could talk without the beta overhearing.

For once Vegeta’s plan was successful. “Yea, I’m not sitting through any long talks while I’m this pregnant, so good luck with whatever it is.” Goku said, already way more interested in taking in the scenery and to colorful local aliens than whatever boring diplomatic talk Vegeta had come here for.

The saiyans, both royals and guards, were led through a narrow icy passage cut into the ice and rock until they reached what looked like the main square of the village. There the group split, with Vegeta sending Raditz and all their guards off with Goku, who were guided towards the bathhouses, and himself staying behind with Minkou and a few of her retainers.

“Not keeping any guards for yourself, prince?” She asked.

Vegeta huffed. “No. I don’t want anyone to overhear. Besides, I can protect myself, I don’t need them.”

“But your mate does?”

Vegeta didn’t like the leading questions the old feathered lizard hag was asking. “Kakarot is strong, but as I said I’m aware of your abilities. I’m not leaving him alone in his condition.”

The priestess fluffed her feathers and extended her neck, eyes narrow. “We would not harm someone brooding young. You, _Destroyer_ , is another matter.”

Vegeta chuckled humorlessly. “Ah, so my reputation does precede me.” He pulled his cape more firmly around himself. “Worry not old bird, I am no longer forced to work under Frieza, and my matter here is entirely personal.”

“Hm, I wonder if you’ve really changed. You have wrought much destruction for someone so young.” She said, still eyeing him distrustfully even as she led them inside.

The house was cozy, a fire going in the middle of the room where they sat down on pillows, gathered around the heat. Minkou sent her retainers away, but Vegeta knew they were merely out of sight, still seated on the other side of the sliding screens making up the walls of the room. He scanned for energy signatures in the area, and quickly made a note of where everyone was, both his own people and the kulrans, as well as the exits.

“I was not aware that saiyans possessed energy sensing abilities.” Minkou said.

Vegeta froze and tensed up. Slowly he focused back on the old woman again. “You could tell what I was doing.” He stated, not bothering to make it a question.

Her dark eyes seemed bottomless in the light from the fire, the rainbow colored scales on her face glinting as the flames danced. “Indeed. I am old, and come from a species very well-versed in energy manipulation. What did you expect, prince?”

They stared silently at each other for half a minute. “Nothing less.” Vegeta then told her with a smirk.

“It pleases you…” She stated curiously. “Hmm. Why don’t you tell me your reason for coming here already? Though I suppose it has something to do with the volatile power I can sense growing within your mate.”       

Vegeta clenched his fists. “You can already sense him? My son…”

“I have never felt anything like it…” She closed her eyes. “Like a white dwarf star, that child could become a supernova. He will consume anything in his path… Even his own parent.”

“I won’t let that happen!” Vegeta yelled while getting up, ready to shake the old woman. He kept himself back when he sensed the retainers moving, no doubt ready to intercept him. Slowly he sank back down, hands fisted on his knees as he kneeled. “I can’t have that happen…”

Vegeta hung his head, clenching his teeth until his jaw ached. Vegeta did not find it easy to speak the next words, but knew that he had to. “Please… I know what you think of me, you’ve made that clear, but Kakarot is innocent, and so is our child. My mate is far too gentle for a saiyan; he would spare someone in a heartbeat if they asked him to.” A truly shameful trait for a saiyan, but something other species seemed to admire. “I’m asking you to spare him too.”

Minkou watched him, emotions too hard to read in her reptilian face. “Knowing our abilities, you came here to plead for your mate and child’s life.” She clucked, a mirthless laugh among her own people. “I wonder Vegeta, how many have begged you to spare _their_ loved ones in the past? Did you laugh as you denied them?”

Slowly Vegeta raised his head to glare at her. “I’m not _proud_ of my actions while acting under Frieza, only that I survived it. So if you want to hold the atrocities I committed under duress as a child against me, then fine. But keep it focused on me, don’t draw Kakarot or my son into it.”

“…Well spoken.” Minkou admitted thoughtfully. “It would be unbecoming to punish them, even as an aim to hurt you. But what makes you think we can help? I must tell you now prince, but none of us will leave this planet, enter your coalition or even be publicly known to help you. It would endanger our neutrality.”       

 Vegeta looked down into the fire. He’d expected as much, but it still made things harder. “…Kakarot was the one who taught me to sense energies, and even how to manipulate my own. All saiyans seem capable of learning it, and I suspect we may all have been able to in the past. Perhaps we forgot it after leaving our mother planet Sadala… In any case, it opens up the possibility that we are able to do more.” He looked back at Minkou. “I know you’ll probably be reluctant, but I’m asking you to teach me or Kakarot the ability to suppress the power of _others_ and guard out own. It’s the only way I can see that would save him from getting drained by our son.”

Minkou’s eyes narrowed and her feathers started rising threateningly again. “Those abilities are the very reason we have stayed safe from Frieza and the Planet Trade Organization. No one is willing to sit foot here and risk their powers getting snuffed out. Why in the world would we teach it to _you_ , when you would surely use it as a weapon?!”

“Like you do?” Vegeta asked with a snort. Talk about hypocrisy... “Even if we all had those powers, you would still be safe. I’ll even promise on my honor to never set foot here again if that will make you feel better. All I care about right now is a way to save Kakarot.”

For a long time the priestess stared at him, the flames dancing between them as Vegeta waited tensely.

“We have no reason to trust you prince Vegeta.” Minkou finally said. “The answer is no.”

Vegeta growled, his body tensing. “If you refuse to help, then Kakarot’s blood will be on your hands.” His pupils narrowed, the sign of a predator eyeing prey. “In that case I’ll come calling, and I’ll demand blood for blood.”

The priestess let out an angry shriek, like an aggravated bird. “You don’t get your will, so now you threaten us?!!” Her four wings unfolded from her body, their mass encircling the entire room and all tipped with sharp talons. “I should kill you here and now, drain your energy, snuff you out like a candle. No matter how many of your soldiers land here they would all suffer the same fate.”

Vegeta threw his head back and laughed, no longer bothering to keep up the veneer of politeness. “Oh sure, go ahead and kill me. You’ll leave the rest of the universe defenseless against Frieza, but just in case that doesn’t bother you…” Vegeta lowered his head back to look at her. “Even one of my weaker generals has the power to completely obliterate your planet without ever landing on it. So does Frieza for that matter, and I’m sure the only reason he hasn’t bothered is because there is no gain to be had from it.”

Vegeta chuckled as he watched the priestess pull her wings back. Even with her alien features he could tell she was horrified. “What? Did you think your little power drain trick kept you safe? Fool. You’re on the very outer edges of the quadrant; Frieza simply hasn’t bothered sending his battle robots after you yet. Can’t exactly use your abilities on mechanical beings, can you?” Vegeta snorted. “Neutrality my ass. You’re just living obliviously on borrowed time.”

“No…” Minkou’s wings slumped, the fight draining from her. “No, this cannot be true…”

“Oh it’s true alright.” Vegeta continued mercilessly. “It might be ten years since I worked under Frieza, but I remember your planet’s name was on the list.” He smirked. “If you had cooperated I would have quietly added you to the Coalition over time, even if you’re in the boonies I’d have found some use for you as a thank you.” He shrugged. “But seeing as you were _so sure_ of your own safety, I couldn’t help but burst your little bubble.”

“You… You’re lying.” Minkou accused him.

“You can tell by my energy that I’m not, can’t you?” Vegeta snorted. “Besides I have no reason to. Either you help me, and perhaps gain some goodwill, or I go home secure in the knowledge that while my mate might die at least you will all die horribly ass well, and I won’t even have to lift a finger.”

Vegeta leaned forward until his face was lit disturbingly in shadows by the flames. “So what’ll it be little priestess?”

Minkou glared back.

 

xXx

 

“Aaahhh… I can’t believe how nice this is.” Goku groaned as he slowly sank underneath the hot water. “The baths on Base One just doesn’t compare to a real hot-spring.”

Raditz was still throwing chunks of ice into the steaming rock basin, aware that without some ice cubes floating in the bowl formed pool his brother would quickly overheat. “Well if you enjoy the extra smell of minerals and sulfur, then sure…” He heaved in a last giant chunk, and heard Goku laugh as the resulting splash hit him.

The guards were stationed out of sight but within calling distance. Raditz and Goku could talk without being overheard, but reinforcement would be there in seconds if they yelled. Raditz doubted they would need it but… “So hey, do you know why Vegeta wanted to come here?”

Raditz found it suspicious. There was no tactical foothold to be gained here, and despite the planet being fertile they already got all the supplies they needed from other much closer planets. The kulrans weren’t a very technologically advanced species either, and were only really aware of the rest of the universe thanks to other species using their planet as a resort.

“Hmm?” Goku leaned his arms on the edge of the basin, and rested his cheek against the slightly cooler rock found there. The snow was still falling around them, and it was causing steam to rise like a dense fog from the hot water, but Raditz could still tell his little brother looked blissed out and unconcerned.

“Not really. I sorta stopped listening after hearing there were hot-springs and that I got to go.” Though, now that he thought about it, Goku couldn’t remember Vegeta actually even trying to explain. “…I’m sure he has some reason.”

Raditz looked at him, unimpressed. “Maybe pay a bit more attention to what your mate is doing, or Vegeta will eventually land you both in hot water with that temper of his.”

“Well he certainly landed us in _hot water_ this time.” Goku said cheekily, and kicked his legs so Raditz got splashed.

The towel Raditz’ had wrapped around his hips got drenched, and the water felt scalding against his skin after standing in the cold air and not yet having acclimatized to it. “Ow!” Raditz jumped back with a hiss and almost slipped on the icy ground. “You’re the fucking _worst!_ ” He growled. “I can’t believe I came back for this.”

Goku laughed, unrepentant. “Just come in already. I swear sometimes you’re more tense than Vegeta!”

Raditz continued grumbling even as he discarded his sobbing towel and climbed in. Meanwhile Goku watched him curiously. He’d seen his older brother get dressed before, but had never really payed attention. Now he was, and questions came to mind. “Hey Raditz? How come your dick’s so big?”

This time Raditz _did_ slip from shock, and fell down into the water with a mighty splash. He came back up after a second, hair plastered to his skull and spluttering. “Kakarot what the fuck?!?”

Goku continued shamelessly. “Vegeta is big too. Is it an alpha thing? I was pretty normal sized back on Earth from what I saw, but you two are like...” He made a crude gesture with his hands indicating size.

Raditz considered drowning himself. “It’s—I don’t know—Yes?” Oh gods spare him from this. “Sure, It’s an alpha thing. Whatever just _shut up about it_.”

“Why?” Goku blinked innocently, but Raditz wasn’t fooled. “I was just curious about how saiyans are different.”

“Oh _sure_ you were.” Raditz said sarcastically. “Well I don’t care. I’m not talking about dicks with my own brother, especially considering the one you get into regular contact with.”

Goku tilted his head. “Is that an insult to Vegeta’s personality or are you actually talking about his—“

“BOTH!” Raditz screamed. “Now _stop.”_ He practically cried.

Goku sank down until the water could hide his small satisfied grin. He’d missed Raditz. His older brother was a lot of fun to tease.

Raditz continued eyeing his little brother with distrust for the next couple of minutes, but eventually calmed down and started enjoying the warm water. He leaned back and watched the clouded sky from which fat snowflakes were still falling. They landed and melted on Raditz’ face and shoulder, which brought a welcome cool. “…I suppose this isn’t so bad. I’ve definitely had worse guard missions.”

Goku opened one eye to watch him lazily. “I thought _I_ was ‘the worst’?” He teased.

“Oh, ha ha.” Raditz replied deadpan. “You still beat dealing with Vegeta. Especially when he was younger. If your kid ends up being just as much of a nightmare I’ll consider it as the universe trying to balance itself.”

“But Raditz.” Goku said sweetly. “You’ll be babysitting him, so would there really be balance?”

Raditz blanched. “Oh fuck. I didn’t think of that.”

Goku laughed. “Yea, I figured.” Slowly he looked down and stroked his belly. His baby was awake right now and was moving around almost curiously. Goku wondered if he could tell how Goku was weightless, or if being always submerged in water inside Goku’s belly meant it made no difference to him. “You’ll be your own person.” He told his son. “But you’ll definitely be strong, I can tell.”

“Are you talking to the kid?” Raditz asked, swimming closer to better see through the steam. “Whoa, I could sorta tell when you were dressed, but you’ve really gotten big. You sure there’s only one in there?”

Goku made a face. “Yea definitely sure. Otherwise my stretchmarks would be even worse.” He didn’t mind how they looked, but they made his skin itch and pull something fierce. Lately he’d gotten Vegeta to massage a cream unto him, which helped some, but after regaining his libido one thing often led to another and Goku usually ended up having to take a bath afterwards, which was rather counterproductive.

Raditz watched Goku’s belly with wide eyes and a slightly slack face. “Do you think… Could I… Can I touch?”

Goku smiled at his brother’s hesitance. “Sure.” He grabbed Raditz’ hand and easily placed it on his belly, right where he’d just felt the child. “Try keeping your hand there, maybe—Ah.”

The baby kicked obligingly against Raditz’ hand, and Goku laughed at the floored expression his older brother made. “He’s saying ‘hi uncle Raditz’.”

“Hi…” Raditz croaked back with a thick voice. He hadn’t touched a pregnant person since their mom was carrying Goku and that was… Gods, almost twenty years ago soon. “Hey kid… Last time I was kicked like this it was your daddy doing it.” He told his, oh gods, his nephew.

Goku tilted his head at the news. “I wasn’t made in an incubator?”

Raditz slowly raised his eyes from where he was staring transfixed at the spot his nephew was still lightly kicking every now and then. “No, mom and dad were mates so it didn’t really make sense… Though later you did spend some time in an incubator because you were born early and weak.”

“I was?”

Raditz snorted. “Oh yea. You were a month early and your power level was _two_. Your lungs were just about the only thing strong on you. Damn you could scream.”

Goku frowned a bit at hearing that, and ran a hand over his belly. “Well… This one’ll be strong. I can tell.”

“Hey, you got strong too. Just took you a while longer.” Raditz told him.

Goku looked down with a smile and a light blush dusting his cheeks. “Yea, you’re right.”

Being still technically on guard duty, Raditz had kept his attention on the surroundings and as such noticed when he felt Vegeta’s ki flare. “Hey, I think Vegeta is coming closer.”

Goku sensed for his mate’s ki too. “Huh, yea he is. He feels angry.”

“You can tell just from that?” Raditz asked, eyebrows raised.

Goku didn’t know how to explain the specific flaring thing Vegeta’s ki whenever something was upsetting him, and as such just shrugged. “Let’s get up. I’m getting too hot and I doubt he’s in the mood for bathing anyway.”

“Oh, uh. Sure.”

xXx

 

Fifteen minutes later Goku and Raditz met Vegeta back on the village square, guards behind them. Goku immediately went up to his mate when he saw the expression Vegeta was making. “What’s wrong?” He asked, worried. Last time he’d seen Vegeta make that face someone had gotten blasted.

“This was a waste of time. The bastards won’t cooperate with us, not even with their own existence on the line.” Vegeta growled through gritted teeth.

Goku frowned, unimpressed. “You didn’t threaten them, did you?”

“I didn’t need to.” Vegeta responded, whatever that was supposed to mean. Then he turned his face up against the still biting wind. “We’re leaving.”

Goku whined. “Whaat? Nooe… We just got here!” He pulled on Vegeta’s arm. “I don’t wanna go back in space yet. I _missed_ being planet side.”

“I didn’t say we were going back to the ship, but we’re not staying here.” Vegeta put an arm around Goku, knowing that his mate’s ki control had gotten unstable because of the child and that he couldn’t be trusted to fly on his own. By the fact that Goku didn’t complain, Vegeta suspected he knew it too.

“Everyone, lets fly!” Vegeta called, not wanting to stay a second longer somewhere with aliens actually capable of harming him should they put their minds to it.

The group of saiyans all took to the air at their prince’s command, and soon they were cutting through the sky, Vegeta in the lead. Goku would have asked where they were going, but the wind was too harsh to talk over.

Eventually they seemed to exit the winter storm they had disembarked in and landed outside a forest. Goku looked around. There were a lot of rocks and cliffs here, with dry grass and something that looks like heather covering the nooks and crannies between them. The trees were tall, thin and white stemmed, and scattered sparsely across the landscape before giving way to denser wood with darker trees. “What are we doing here?” Goku asked, not minding the detour but somewhat confused.

“I’m hunting something fresh down for you.” Vegeta explained him, still tense from whatever had happened back at the village. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you eating half raw meat and then spitting it back up when it wasn’t fresh enough.”

“Oh.” Goku winced, a bit embarrassed to have been caught doing that. “Uhm, yea… As long as it’s not the local population, go ahead.”

Vegeta had briefly considered doing just that, being no stranger to eating sentient lifeforms, but had quickly discarded the idea thanks to his mate’s sensitive sensibilities. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it can’t talk.” He said, before turning around to face the guards. “You lot get a fire going and make some shelter. You two” he pointed “You go in the opposite direction and hunt something for the rest of you. Keep an eye out for kulrans, we’re not exactly welcome here anymore. Raditz you’re staying with Kakarot.”

Vegeta got some affirmative ‘yes sirs’ and then quickly shared a look with Goku before flying off.

Goku watched him go, his mouth a thin line.

Raditz lumbered up to him, while trying to shake ice off his clothes. It had gathered there as they flew. “Something bothering you?”

“…Something’s bothering Vegeta. It’s worse than he’s letting on.” Goku responded, eyes still on the horizon where Vegeta had already disappeared.

_So he’d noticed it too_. Raditz thought. Whatever the kulrans back in that village had done, it was a miracle Vegeta hadn’t left the place a bloody crater with all the silent rage he’d been exuding. Vegeta was dangerous when pushed into an explosive temper, but the step after that was cold fury and that was even worse. Vegeta turned unpredictable when he got like that, but usually someone died. One time an entire planet.

Raditz opted for not mentioning that to his brother though.

“Well, I’m sure he’ll feel better after hunting.” Raditz clasped Goku’s shoulder and manually turned him away from staring after the prince. “Let’s sit you down by the fire.”

“Right…” Goku cast a last glance towards the direction he felt Vegeta’s ki from, then reluctantly turned to follow his brother’s lead. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, the same one he got more and more often these days. It felt like an emotion, but not his. An echo. Whatever it was it felt like it came from Vegeta, and that scared Goku. Unexplainable as it may be, if it really was something transferred from his mate…

Why did Vegeta feel so afraid all the time?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yikes...


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look, a wild chapter has appeared! Hurry up and catch it!

 

The fire cackled and wood snapped loudly in the flames as lazy smoke circled towards the grey winter sky. Goku felt the heat on his face as he watched it burn, but his mind was faraway. He could follow Vegeta’s ki to the other side of the mountains, but it made him none the wiser to what was bothering his mate, and Goku wasn’t sure he liked not being in the know anymore.

“If you frown any harder your wrinkles will get permanent.” Raditz told him as he sat down next to Goku on the fallen tree trunk he was using as a bench. “Here, have a mug. The taste is questionable, but at least it’s hot.”

Goku took the mug Raditz handed him and swirled the dark liquid before carefully taking a sip. “Blargh!” Goku quickly shook his head and thrust the mug back at his brother. “This tastes almost like coffee! Ew, no thanks.”

“Coffee?” Raditz repeated and took the mug before Goku could accidentally spill it. “Some earth thing I’m guessing? This is an energy drink. Good for long missions.”

“What’s it called?” Goku asked with narrow eyes, watching the mug. “Just so I know how to avoid it.”

“Ivkah. You really don’t like it huh? Well, I guess it’s an acquired taste.” Raditz said, before taking a slurp. He watched as his little brother once more turned to watch the flames in silence, then sighed and settled his own attention on the six remaining guards. Two were standing by the trees, their heads stuck together and probably gossiping, while casting furtive glances towards Goku. Raditz knew his brother was still causing a general stir, even after all this time. Looking at it from an outsider’s point of view, Raditz sort of understood why. Not too much was actually known about the prince consort that couldn’t just as well be unconfirmed rumors.

Kakarot had appeared suddenly; retrieved from a distant planet by the prince himself long after any saiyan survivors had been thought to remain. While at first stationed at an unimportant checkpoint, his arrival had created ripples, like when you throw a stone in the water. Not only was he a male beta, but the prince had quickly brought him on a high scale mission for information retrieval, and according to witnesses his power level had kept rising at a truly staggering pace. Now, all saiyans could technically get stronger from senkai boosts and battle experience, but normally you reached your level cap at some point around the same time you entered adulthood. Kakarot didn’t appear to _have_ a cap, and if he did, then it hadn’t been reached yet.

It made the other saiyans nervous about being around him.

Sure Kakarot was rumored to be nice and all, but his power display during the Tvekamp had hardly been forgotten, and the ferociousness he had displayed back then clashed rather horribly with his general everyday lackadaisical nature.

Regardless of the fact that Raditz understood the reasoning behind the confusion and gossip or not, he still didn’t appreciate people not doing their jobs when they were supposed to be guarding his brother. That in mind Raditz handed his mug back over to Goku. “Hold that for me will ya?” He asked, then stood up and started walking over to the gossiping pair to give them a lecture.

As he neared, the two other saiyans tensed up, but not because they had noticed Raditz. Their focus was on the woods.

“What is it?” The female one asked her companion.

The other guard, a young man, brought a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet. “Something’s moving in the trees. I heard it. It’s not registering on the scouter though.”

The girl had already brought up her hand to check her scouter readings, but now slowly lowered it again. “W-what do we do?” She asked, a bit panicked. As least she seemed to know that messing up while guarding the pregnant prince consort was unthinkable.

“Get Raditz.” The guy ordered, attention focused on the trees.

She nodded and turned to do so, only to bump into the muscular chest of the saiyan in question. “Don’t bother, I’m here.” Raditz told them both as he steadied her, his eyes fixed on the woods too.

“S-sorry.” The girl mumbled and drew back.

“I swear I heard something, but the scouter’s not picking anything up.” Her counterpart told Raditz.

“That’s because whatever it is it’s hiding itself.” Raditz said, with narrow eyes watching the shadows between the trees. The tall saiyan took a step forward and raised his voice. “We know you’re there. Come out or we blast the whole area!”  

Hearing Raditz calling out, the remaining guards became alert too and were quick to gather Goku from his log by the fire. He was quickly hemmed in between them, still clutching Raditz’ abandoned mug of ivkah with a slightly lost expression. Hearing his older brother’s threat, Goku tilted his head and focused his senses on the small crop of trees ahead of them too. It took him a second, but then he felt something. 

“…Wait Raditz, don’t shoot.” Goku handed of the mug to the guard next to him, who took it with confusion, and then stepped forwards until he was next to his brother.

“Idiot!” Raditz hissed, putting his hand out to stop him. “Get _back_. We’re supposed to protect you, not—“

“It’s okay!” Goku called out to the trees, completely ignoring his brother’s stressed demands as he watched for movement. “Just come out, we won’t hurt you!”

All the saiyans tensed, sharp eyes focused and energy already swirling in their palms despite their prince consort’s promise. Raditz mentally cursed his brother once again as he waited for their enemy to appear.

Slowly, ever so carefully, a figure melted out from between the white trees and grey rocks. It’s grey, white and black feathers had caused it to almost blend into the surroundings, visually camouflaging its presence.

“It’s a kulran.” Raditz growled. “Get ready!” He told the guards. They’d fry the bird up before it could get close to his sibling.

“No.” Goku held out an arm to keep them all back. “If it had wanted to attack us, it could have done so before we noticed it. Let it come closer.” As he gave the order he motioned for the feathered local to come near. 

Cautiously the bird like being did, its scaly tail dragging along the ground with a slithering sound. “P-please d-don’t shoot me.” It asked in a small nervous voice when it got close enough to be heard.

The other saiyans stayed in their attack positions, unmoved by the plea, but Goku smiled easily at it. “We won’t. Who are you? Can you tell me your name?”

Of freaking course his little brother wanted to befriend it. Of course he did. Raditz mentally waved goodbye to his ideas of fried chicken. By now ‘lightly singed’ was looking more plausible. 

The kulran’s black eyes darted between the growling saiyan guards and their displayed sharp teeth and back to Goku, the only friendly looking one, at the front. “M-my name is Mikla. I-I came to help you.”

“Help us?” Goku repeated, eyebrows raised. Raditz stopped growling too, brought to a stop by that. Just what had Vegeta been up to in that village? Why would he ask some backwater aliens for help?

Mikla suddenly moved closer, which caused the guards to grab Goku and pull him back until they could close rank around him. Annoyed by the tension and the continuing aggression despite his orders, Goku pulled himself free and pushed the two guards in front of him out of the way. “Enough! It’s one kid, calm down and stop scaring her already.”

“A kid?” Raditz mumbled, taking in the shaking Kulran with new eyes. Vegeta would be livid that they didn’t kill on sight, seeing as whatever his business on the planet was it hadn’t gone well, but it seemed unlikely that the kulrans would have sent a kid as an assassin. Nevertheless Raditz made sure to stay between it and his brother.

Goku, never patient in the first place and even less so since he got pregnant, stomped forward until he was free of his guards, then smacked his brother’s arm when Raditz continued blocking his way. “Stop it. Let it come sit by the fire.”

“I-I’m considered female amongst my own people.” Mikla meekly informed them, her feathers fluffed up out of fright.

Raditz pulled back his lips in a warning soundless snarl. He knew what he and the other saiyans looked like up close with their, to her, alien features of weird smooth skin, sharp teeth and the volatile energy that they kept swirling in their palms, ready to let loose at any point. They made for a scary sight, and Raditz had no problem with it if it kept the bird from getting ideas.

“Okay.” Goku said easily, ignoring his brother’s posturing and smiling at her to break the tension. “Sorry about calling you ‘it’, I just couldn’t tell.” He gestured for her to join their inner circle around the fire again, and this time Mikla was allowed to slowly come closer, even though the dark predatory eyes of the rest of the saiyans followed her every move.

When Goku just sat down on the trunk again and padded the bark next to him without saying anything, just watching her encouragingly, Milka shuffled over and sat down. “How could you tell I was young, if you couldn’t tell my gender?” She asked carefully, probably confused with how different Goku was acting from the others. Raditz stuck close and kept glaring, ready to intervene if necessary. His little brother’s sense of self-preservation wasn’t the best after all.

“Well because of your wings of course.” Goku pointed to one, which’s primary feathers were still visible despite Mikla keeping it folded and close to her body. “Look, those long ones aren’t really that long yet, and you’re way downier than feathered really. Like a baby bird.”

Mikla seemed to self-consciously fluff her feathers to better hide the soft tufts of down still sticking up between her developing plumage. “Oh… I see. I thought my colors had given it away. I’ll only get brighter ones when I reach adulthood.”

Goku laughed. “I don’t know that much about you guys. Kulrans, was it? Vegeta was the one who wanted to talk to you, I just wanted to get outside and take a dip in the hot springs.”

“W-where is prince Vegeta anyway?” Mikla asked carefully, looking around.

“Hmm…” Goku closed his eyes briefly and tilted his head. “Well, wherever he was he’s heading here now. Fast.”

Mikla gulped nervously at those news and Raditz smirked. Perhaps they would end up having grilled chicken for dinner after all.

xXx

Vegeta didn’t like leaving Kakarot behind, but his mate was a bit too pregnant by now to be hunting with him, and besides, Vegeta had plans the beta probably wouldn’t agree with.

First things first though; a prey to bring back.

Finding a herd of giant grass eaters wasn’t hard, and after spotting them from the air Vegeta silently sank down behind an outcropping of rock to watch them. Normally he’d take the weakest of the herd, culling them, but hunting for Kakarot made it different. His mate and child needed the strongest creature to nourish them, second best simply wouldn’t do.

With sharp eyes Vegeta observed the grazing flock, the giant heavy furred creatures oblivious to the predator eyeing them. It didn’t take the saiyan long to settle on a big but young bull. Its meat would be tender and its blood fresh with how healthy it was looking. At another time Vegeta might have simply used an energy shot to take it down, but this time he didn’t want its hide pierced and the juices to drain before he got it back to Kakarot.

Vegeta crouched low, and waited for the right moment. The herd continued grazing obliviously, the designated watchers mainly focused on encircling the calves, the ones most at risk. Vegeta wasn’t interested in them though, and patiently watched as his target slowly got closer and closer to the rocks Vegeta was hiding behind.

The bull lifted its heavy head and smelled the air, something strange on the wind that it couldn’t identify. It knew the scent of predator when it smelled it though. But before the bull had a chance to alert his flock, Vegeta pounced. He darted close, grabbed the bull’s heavy skull and twisted, its thick neck standing no chance against Vegeta’s raw power. The bone broke with a snap. In less than ten seconds the bull fell to the ground, dead, and the rest of the herd hadn’t even noticed what was happening yet. One by one they slowly lifted their heads and realized what had happened; that there was a predator in their midst, and that it had already made a kill.

Vegeta dusted off his gloves and eyed the creatures, wondering if they would attack or not.

They didn’t. The herd ran, snow and dirt flying around the stampede of hoofs as they thundered away, out of reach from the danger. Vegeta let them run; he already had his kill.

Hefting the heavy creature by its hind legs Vegeta floated upwards again and quickly reoriented himself before setting his course, but not back to his mate, oh no, he had another visit to pay first.

Reentering the snow storm was unpleasant, but Vegeta kept flying nonetheless, and soon the Kulran village appeared below him. Vegeta hang in the air high above it, concealed by the howling wind and his lowered ki. From this height the settlement was nothing but vague shining lights, but Vegeta grinned down at it with a deranged and ferocious smile nonetheless. “As if I would just leave. You were dead the moment you refused me.”

Vegeta raised a hand, volatile red energy quickly gathering in his palm. He laughed, dark eyes reflecting the red light of his attack. “I’ll make it just strong enough to cause an explosion. Make them suffer.” Their limbs would be rendered, their houses would burn, but it wouldn’t turn them to ash or end them instantly. Vegeta wanted that old feather duster to know _exactly_ who killed her and her people before she died.

Smirking at the thought of their regret and tortured screams, Vegeta was seconds from releasing his attack when something pinged on the edges of his senses. It had been brief but—“Kakarot.”

Vegeta swirled in the air, eyes wide, attention now solely focused on his own people. It had been brief, but Kakarot’s energy had indeed spiked, and Raditz’ and the guards—“Shit!” It was still raised for them. Something had found them, and Vegeta wasn’t there!

Abandoning his plans of mass murder, Vegeta let the energy in his palm dissipate as he shot off with a furious speed back towards his own group.

xXx

Vegeta’s heart was in his throat as the small clearing came into sight, and he didn’t calm down even as he landed and dropped the heavy body of his kill. There, seated right next to Kakarot, was a kulran.

“Get away from him!” Vegeta roared, and shot forwards, ki blazing and aiming for the Kulran’s chest. He had to take it out before it could use its abilities.

“Vegeta stop!”

Kakarot got in the way. Of course he did. Vegeta was barely able to stop himself in time, and even so he still had to grab Kakarot and twist him lest Vegeta’s momentum threw the beta back.

Kakarot was pulled into his mates arms with a surprised “Oomph!” And had to brace against Vegeta’s chest as they swirled. Vegeta’s higher coordination meant that they didn’t fall, though it was a near thing. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Vegeta yelled at him as soon as they came to a stop, sounding furious.

Kakarot appeared only mildly contrite, probably aware that jumping in front of a charged attack like that had just shaved off years from Vegeta’s life, but not sorry about interfering. Vegeta grabbed his arms and held him out far enough to glare at him with crazed eyes. “You’re pregnant! You’re not as strong as usual! If I’d hit you—! _Think_ before acting you moron!”

Kakarot actually did wince at that. “I uh, kinda forgot.” He tried to laugh it off. “But you wouldn’t have hit me anyway. Your reaction time is faster than that. Besides, I couldn’t let you attack her.”

“I don’t give a crap who you think you have to save, _never_ do that again!” Vegeta yelled, not placated by his mate’s belief in his control. “And how the hell do you forget something like that you—“

Vegeta broke himself off and took a deep breath, determined to not let Kakarot’s idiocy derail him from the real issue at hand. “Tell me why there’s a kulran in our camp. I told you we weren’t welcome here, yet you invite one to tea?!?”

Kakarot blinked, and all the guards, including Raditz, suddenly got busy avoiding eye contact. “Well, she’s just a kid, and she said she wanted to help us.” Kakarot defended.

“Help us?” Vegeta repeated, then turned his focus on their ‘guest’, taking her in with new eyes. Scraggly feathered, small for her kind and shaking from fright, she didn’t look like much, and Vegeta could tell she was rather young. But if she was able to manipulate energy as well as her elders, then it hardly mattered. “Hn… Well, introduce us then.” Vegeta told his mate, now at least willing to hear her out before punching a hole through her chest cavity.

Kakarot smiled, relieved that Vegeta had abandoned his blatant hostility. “Okay, come sit by the fire—come on.” He started pulling Vegeta over, and the prince followed indulgently, if nothing else then because it brought him within a better attack range.

“This is Mikla.” Kakarot presented as he and Vegeta sat down on the log. Kakarot turned his head to address the kulran. “And this is my mate Vegeta.”

Vegeta didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “Tell us why you’ve decided to help. Your priestess was against it, and I find it hard to believe that she has had a change of heart.”

Mikla watched apprehensively, probably not liking the dark eyes of the prince or the way he was eying her, but slowly seemed to find her voice anyway. “I-I was listening in, back at the village, to the c-conversation you had with my grandmother prince Vegeta, a-and I didn’t think it was right not to help your mate.”

“Me?” Goku asked, surprised.

“Tch.” Kakarot as only six months along, and it would be best if he learned power suppression before he found out that his life was in danger, lest the stress made him worse. Vegeta bit his cheek and glared warningly at the young kulran even as he spoke to his mate. “Don’t worry about it Kakarot. I asked them to teach us their special brand of energy control, nothing else.”

Apparently the kulran was not particularly well versed in reading alien facial expressions or getting a clue from them though, because she continued talking despite Vegeta’s telling glare. “It’s so your baby doesn’t kill you. I don’t know much about saiyans aside from rumors, but despite those I still think it would be terribly sad for your child to lose its mother.”

Goku froze up. “Kill… Me?” He said slowly, voice blank.

“By draining your power, I believe?” Mikla said, now looking unsure if she had misunderstood something. “My grandmother said your son would ‘devour’ you if something wasn’t done.”  

“Vegeta what is she—?” Goku turned to fully face his mate, and his eyes widened as soon as they met Vegeta’s. “You knew.” He stated, able to read the truth in the prince’s expression.

Vegeta clenched his jaw. “Kakarot I—“

“I’m going to die?!”

“No! I won’t let you, so calm down.” Vegeta demanded, while grabbing Goku’s hands and squeezing them. “This is why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to stress about it, the kid can sense it and it’ll only make it worse. Your father agreed with me on that too.”

“My dad knew too?” Goku said, blinking shocked moisture from his eyes. Then something else occurred to him. “Just how long have you known?” He demanded.

Vegeta sighed and didn’t quite meet his gaze. “For months. Bardock had a vision of your death, and I’ve been looking for a solution ever since he told me.”

Goku looked down with a frown, shock slowly fizzling out as he thought. “So what, I just die? I don’t want that! Then I’ll never get to fight Frieza or anyone else! I won’t get to have a proper match against you either.”

“I already told you, _I won’t let that happen_.” Vegeta snapped, then turned his attention back on Mikla who squawked and moved back. “Start talking bird, and make it brief. I assume you want something from this sudden ‘generosity’, so tell me.”

Mikla fluffed her feathers uncomfortably. “I-if Frieza comes then I want you to help us.” She said, trying to sound demanding but mostly landing on ‘scared’. “A-and I’ll only teach Kakarot.”

“Well at least it seems like you’re not as stupid as your grandmother.” Vegeta remarked. He was annoyed that she wouldn’t teach him, but not overly surprised. He could always pick it up later from his mate though, so he’d take it. “Fine. As long as Kakarot lives, I’ll help you. If not…” He trailed off, the silence speaking for itself.

Mikla nodded, knowing that was as much as she could hope for after the exchange the prince had had with her grandmother.

Goku had watched this exchange with narrow eyes, and Vegeta studied him carefully, unable to tell what was going on in his head. This was not a good way to find out about the danger to his life, and Vegeta was a bit concerned about the seemingly underwhelmed reaction the news had gotten. He could pick up the faint scent of fright, instinctual fear from a threat probably, but not much more. Was Kakarot not scared? Why wasn’t he asking more questions?

Meanwhile Goku seemed to gather himself and addressed Mikla. “So what’ll I need to do? Are you going to teach me?” He asked.

“Yes. I can’t come with you though, but if you can pick up the principles over the next four days, then you should be able to train it on your own.” She said.

“Only four days?” Goku asked.

Mikla shifted guiltily. “I kinda snuck away… I left a note that I was going on a hunting trip and that kind of thing can take a while, but if I stay away too long then they’ll come looking for me.” She explained.

Vegeta didn’t like the way Goku was acting so carefully blank, but decided to focus on what was necessary at the moment instead of wondering about it. He stood up and held out a hand for Goku so he could use it to do the same. “Then you will get started right now. We have no time to waste.”

Goku ignored Vegeta’s outstretched hand and stood up by himself. “I know.”   

xXx

Spending four bitingly cold days in a snow landscape was not any saiyans idea of fun, considering that they came from a desert planet, but at least they had their ship to stay in. Vegeta grit his teeth to the cold and spent his time hunting and keeping a keen sense out for Kakarot, seeing as the blasted feather-duster insisted on training him out of sight. Vegeta had the sneaking suspicion that Kakarot didn’t mind that much, given the way he had been giving Vegeta the silent treatment for the first two days. Vegeta wasn’t quite sure how to fix whatever was bothering Kakarot this time, and rather hoped that the beta would either tell him or let it go. Unfortunately neither were likely to happen.

As for the rest of their group, despite still being watchful and doing their jobs, Vegeta had at one point caught sight of some of the guards having a snowball fight of all things. He’d considered telling them off, but in the end had left them alone. While they were all soldiers, many saiyans on the outside were former invasion babies, and as such rather young, which occasionally showed in their behavior. Vegeta might not have the impulse to play around like a teen, but being mated to one meant he could sort of understand the occasional necessity to let loose.

Raditz had been instructed to stay silent on the truth of Kakarot’s condition when they returned to base, as had all the others, but Vegeta’s brother in law had gone quiet and broody since learning the truth and now spent a lot of time glaring at Vegeta. For once the two third class brothers actually seemed to be acting alike, and it was giving Vegeta a fucking headache. But unlike with Kakarot, if Raditz had a problem then he could damn well speak up about it, until then Vegeta wouldn’t bother with him.    

On the evening of the last day, Kakarot appeared from the thicket as usual and immediately focused on the fresh kill Vegeta had hunted down for him.

Vegeta watched in silence and with some satisfaction as Kakarot wasted no time tearing into it, pulling raw meat from bones and slurping fresh and still warm blood. It was a feral sight, but not odd for a saiyan. It was also quite a contrast to the first time Vegeta had presented him with a kill, and Kakarot had squirmed and queasily asked what he was supposed to do with it. Vegeta had responded by ripping open the bull’s belly and tearing out a still warm liver, which had been steaming in the cold air, and handing it to Kakarot with a raised brow. Whatever his feelings on Vegeta had been at the time, Kakarot had taken it, but had still hesitated. After cautiously taking the first bite though all hesitance had disappeared, instinct taking over, and he had practically devoured the beast.

Now Kakarot was sucking marrow from a skillfully broken bone with a blissed expression, and Vegeta thought he’d probably introduced his pregnant mate to raw meat not a moment too soon. Coquille’s supplements were all well and good, but they couldn’t beat the real thing.

“How is the training going, are you done?” Vegeta asked carefully as Goku looked to be finishing up.

Goku licked sticky blood off his fingers and glanced thoughtfully at the winter sky. “Well Mikla went back to her home, so…”

“And?” Vegeta asked, arms crossed and voice tense. “Did you finish?”

Goku glanced at him slyly, then slowly smirked; the first happy-ish expression he had made in days that didn’t involve food. “I finished on the first day.” He informed Vegeta.

Vegeta spluttered. “Wha—You! We stayed here for _days_ , when we could have—”

“Gone back to space in a tin-can? Yea, no thanks.” Goku stood up and stretched lazily, feeling full, pleased and pleasantly drowsy after his meal. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. Well, that and payback.” Goku turned to face his seething mate and stuck his tongue out. “Bleeeh! Serves you right for keeping stuff secret.”

Vegeta growled, but didn’t have much of a comeback to that reasoning. If that was the extent of Kakarot’s revenge, then he’d better count himself lucky. Kakarot wasn’t particular prone to hold grudges for a long time, and the last four days had been the longest he’d ever managed. While not particularly fond of sullen silences, Vegeta’s main concern had been that Goku _did_ have a penchant for teasing and pulling pranks, which made him an annoying person to tick off. “Fine. You’ve had your little rebellion. Now let’s get the hell out of here.” Vegeta snapped and then started marching towards their ship, only to slow his gait as Goku struggled to keep up with his pregnancy waddle.

Goku sidled up beside him with a knowing look in his eyes and sniggered as Vegeta gave an aggrieved sigh and held out an elbow for him to support himself with. This time Goku took it, and Vegeta kept his face forward while saying nothing. He’d allow his mate to be pleased with his deception if it got Vegeta back in his good graces.  

_‘At least he’s safe now’_. Vegeta thought as they walked. If Kakarot had truly learned how to suppress others energy, then making it through their son’s birth was no longer an impossibility. There could still be complications, but the chances were no longer zero.

Vegeta looked to the sky and took a deep breath of the crisp winter air, while he felt something heavy slowly rising from his chest. It was like finally breathing again after almost drowning. _‘It’s fine. He’ll be fine.’_

Vegeta would probably have to repeat that to himself for a while longer before he really started believing it.    

 

xXx

 

“Auch.”

Raditz looked up from his magazine at Goku’s exclamation, instantly alert. “Are you having contractions? Do I need to call Dilla?”

Goku turned slightly to glare at him through narrow eyes, hands rubbing on his lower back. “Only if you want to invite her for tea. I still have a month to go damnit.”

Normally mentioning Dilla, who had finally arrived at Base One, put Goku in a better mood, but these days the false contractions he kept experiencing meant he was pretty much constantly on edge. Not even the birthday cake he had gotten after turning twenty the other day had cheered him for long.

Raditz held up his hands disarmingly. “Hey, don’t growl at me. I just don’t want you giving birth in the middle of the living room.” Privately he thought Vegeta should be the one here to suffer under his pregnant mate’s mood swings, but seeing as the prince did still have work despite his impending fatherhood, the job unfortunately fell on Raditz.

Goku snorted and turned to start doing his stretches, now completely ignoring his brother.

Raditz didn’t pick his magazine back up, but instead watched his brother apprehensively. “You’re still doing the energy suppression, right?”

“Yes, Raditz, for the hundred time, _yes_. I’m aware of what’ll happen otherwise.” Goku snapped.

“Just asking, geez.” Despite the constant reassurance, Raditz still worried. The energy suppression trick Goku had learned from the kulrans wasn’t perfect; in fact it had several flaws. One was that you either had to make eye contact, or physical contact, with your ‘victim’. The latter was easily fixed for Goku, seeing as he was literally connected to his child, but even so there was also the amount of concentration it took. Even now it was not uncommon for Goku to slip up, only to immediately feel the drain. Twice he had collapsed from it, and only the energy transfer he had taught Vegeta had gotten him back on his feet. By now Raditz had a constant open line to the prince on his scouter, just in case, but it didn’t make him much calmer. His biggest fear was that the pain from birth would distract Goku enough for him to lose control of the suppression and die as a consequence.

When he slept Goku wasn’t able to suppress the child either, and as a consequence he was always more exhausted upon waking than he had been when going to bed. Both Vegeta and Raditz worried that at some point he wouldn’t wake up at all.   

Raditz was trying, and struggling, to learn the techniques himself just in case, but he simply didn’t have the same experience with energy control as his little brother or the same flair for it as Vegeta. Even if he did learn, and of course counting in Vegeta, if the child was still inside Kakarot when he lost control there would be nothing they could do.

“Stop making that face already.” Goku said, causing Raditz to snap out of his morbid thoughts. Goku sighed and sat down next to him, while eyeing his brother with a less peeved expression than before. His contractions seemed to have passed. “I know you and Vegeta are worrying yourself grey, but I already told you; I can do this. It’s actually a lot like the ki control on Earth. I might not have done this exact thing before, but I’m getting more used to it by the day. Besides, I’ve been able to sense ki for years, and I’m no stranger to pain.”

Raditz ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “I know, I just… We’re both pretty powerless in this, and it’s driving me nuts.”

Goku smiled lightly. “Is that why you forgave Vegeta for keeping it secret? I know you were angry with him for weeks.”

That was true. Raditz had been extremely pissed that Vegeta would keep something like that to himself, but after knowing for a while Raditz had quickly gotten familiar with the helpless worry that followed knowing about his brother’s possible demise. In the end Raditz had been slightly grateful that he had only needed to fret for up to 3 months versus how Vegeta had been slowly spinning out of control with worry for over half a year.

Their parents too, Bardock included, also called every week to hear if Goku was doing okay, and it took a lot to motivate their otherwise antisocial dad to do something like that. Dilla knew because she was a part of the medical team expected to care for Goku, and while she seemed to be keeping a cool head, Raditz had caught her expression when she thought no one was looking and knew that it was merely her way of staying professional. 

In fact the only one who seemed rather calm about the whole thing was Goku.

“Anyway,” Goku continued blithely. “Worrying about it isn’t gonna help me, so let’s do something else. Wanna play Daam until Vegeta comes back?”

Raditz agreed, but ultimately lost the following game by being distracted by his brother’s appearance. Despite his stubborn attitude and plastered on smile, Goku was pale, his wrists were thin and bony and there were dark bruises circling his eyes.

One month to go.

xXx

“—If we move our troops from Base Four to Khalanecki, then it would strengthen the our control of that region enough to—“

Vegeta tuned out the droning from one of his generals and leaned back, eyes briefly closed to starve off a headache. His leg was jumping under the table, and his finger was tabbing a restless rhythm on the armrest. Kakarot had been in pain when Vegeta left that morning, probably more false contractions but still… Technically he still had two weeks to go, but they all knew that it could happen at any time, and Vegeta had a feeling that it would be sooner rather than later.

Vegeta’s scouter suddenly beeped loudly. The droning general broke off with a miffed look, but Vegeta ignored him in favor of taking the call. He hurriedly brought up his hand and pressed the button. “Yes?”

_“He’s in labor.”_ Raditz’ voice greeted him with.

Those words were all that were needed. Vegeta stood up so fast that his chair toppled over. “I’m going to the med-bay right now.” It would seem his hunch had been right.

While most of the gathered saiyans just stared, one of the generals seemed to pick up on what was going on. “Is prince Kakarot giving birth?”

“Yes. I’m leaving.” Vegeta said as he swept out of the room, cape fluttering behind him.

Vegeta wasn’t even out of the first corridor when he gave up on decorum and started running. As such he arrived at the med-bay gasping and out of breath, having completely forgotten to control his breathing as he ran. “Kakarot—Where is – is he?!”

“Oh, hey Vegeta.” Goku said when his mate came crashing in.

Vegeta blinked dumbly at him. Goku was seated on a gurney, in a hospital grown, but aside from looking a bit pale and sweaty he seemed perfectly fine and was even drinking tea. It was a far cry from the bloodbath Vegeta had subconsciously expected. “I thought you were in labor?!”

Goku made a face. “I am, and it hurts, but it’s not time to do anything yet apparently.”

Vegeta walked closer and looked Goku over, but found nothing else wrong with him aside from a faint tremble in his hands. “I see… How long will it take? Do you… Do you need something?”

Goku opened his mouth to answer, only to wince and hunch over. “Ow, shit. Take my cup.”

Vegeta didn’t care about the damn cup. “A contraction? Is it bad? What do I do?!”

“Just take my cup before I spill it and stop _hovering_.” Goku growled, too preoccupied with breathing through the pain to coddle or reassure Vegeta.

As if summoned, Dilla appeared like a goddess from the adjoining room. “Did I just hear you curse Kaka? Things must be moving along then.”

Goku didn’t answer, but Vegeta quickly turned to her, cup now in hand. “How long has this been going on? When will the child be here?!”

Dilla started bustling around the room, mostly to give the impression that everything was fine to the overly tense alpha. “He’s been in labor since morning, but only came in twenty minutes ago since he thought it was more false contractions. Raditz was the one who dragged him here.”

Vegeta looked around, but saw no trace of his brother in law. “Where _is_ Raditz?”

“Somewhere where he can’t annoy me.” Goku growled, out of breath and good humor now that the contraction had passed.

Dilla snickered. “Yes, he was being more of a disturbance than a help, so he was asked to leave.” She pointed from Vegeta to a chair standing next to Goku’s gurney then. “So please sit and calm down prince Vegeta, or you might suffer the same fate.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Vegeta promised in a deep voice, even as he sat down.

Dilla finally walked over and took Goku’s abandoned cup from him. “Well, you might be in for a wait.”

xXx

Eighteen hours.

Eighteen miserable long exhausting hours. Goku hadn’t had any idea that labor could take so long.

Right now Goku was dozing, supported by a ton of pillows, yet he still felt like he’d been kicked in the back repeatedly and was having a whole body muscle cramp. People kept walking in and out of the room, just medical personal Vegeta kept telling him, but it annoyed Goku beyond belief. He wanted to have quiet, so he could have a chance to rest and actually breathe through the pain without people constantly asking him how he was doing, did he still have a lock down on his son’s ki, and was he feeling faint?

The world needed to go away, the pain needed to go _somewhere_ , and Vegeta needed to come closer so Goku could punch him in the balls for putting him through this.

He must have managed to actually nod off despite the pain though, his exhaustion at this point too great not to, because he was woken up to a cool hand on his forehead and Dilla half bent over him. “Hey champ. Sorry to wake you, but your vitals were low. Think you could sit up for a checkup?” She asked mildly.

Goku nodded weakly, even though he just wanted to cry or pass out again. He took back everything he had said about being used to pain. This wasn’t like being in a battle at all – this was his own body rebelling against him and Goku struggling to work with it. This was torture.

“Are you sure surgery wouldn’t be…” Goku heard Vegeta ask lowly from the other side of the room.

“The child isn’t panicked yet, and I’d rather we do nothing to aggravate it, but we’re keeping it as a backup just in case he—“

“Okay Kaka,” Dilla said, forcing Goku to focus on her instead of whatever Basil and Vegeta were talking about. “I’m just taking a few readings. Think you can eat a bit or are you thirsty?”

“Just water.” Goku mumbled, far too nauseous to even consider food.

“…How about juice?” Dilla tried.

“’Kay.” Goku breathed, already nodding off again. For now he’d try to stay calm. If he expended too much energy now, Goku was scared that he wouldn’t have anything left when push came to shove.

xXx

Four hours later Goku was no longer calm. “Nghh!”

“Breathe through it Kaka, don’t hold your breath.” Dilla ordered him, and started breathing herself in the way she wanted him to. Goku squeezed his eyes shot and did as told, breathing slowly even as his body strained and his hips felt like they were being crushed from the inside. It took way too long for the contraction to pass, and Goku was hardly allowed a moment to relax before the next one hit. “I- I can’t stay like this, I need to move.” Goku gasped, no longer comfortable lying on his side.

“You can’t push yet, okay? But we’re almost there. Just a little more.” Dilla told him as she motioned for Vegeta to help Goku move.

Basil was in the room too, but was staying at a distance to observe when he wasn’t needed. For now Dilla seemed to be the one putting Goku most at ease, and Basil felt confident that his student could do the job.

Goku felt sluggish, which was almost odd, with how tense his entire body was. He only just managed to get on his knees before the next contraction hit, and he slumped against Vegeta, arms wrapped around his mate’s shoulders and hanging on. “Oowwe…” He whined into Vegeta’s neck. This one felt different, it wasn’t letting up. Suddenly, just as Goku thought he couldn’t do this anymore, something burst and warm fluid started gushing down his bare thighs. “Wha…?”

Both Dilla and Basil were quickly there. “Your water just broke Kaka. Basil’s gonna check you again, okay? You might be able to push soon.”

Goku didn’t answer, he just squeezed his eyes shot and clung on to Vegeta. “Keep your focus Kakarot.” Vegeta told him as he ran a hand through Goku’s hair, referring to the ki suppression.

“Hn, you’re ready.” Basil stated, standing up after checking Goku’s progress. “When you feel the need to, you can start pushing, alright?”

Goku nodded imperceptibly, but didn’t lift his head from Vegeta’s shoulder. If he was finally allowed to push, then great, that meant he could get this over with. He was exhausted.

Goku changed his mind when the next contraction hit. It felt like he was being torn apart! His entire body tightened like a drawn bow, he pushed, and it felt like something inside him was torn apart.

xXx

Kakarot was sobbing, red-faced and sweaty from exhaustion and his lips bloodless. Vegeta made eye-contact with Basil over Kakarot’s shoulder, and read what he had already suspected in the doctor’s expression. Kakarot might be too weakened by the prolonged labor to do this.

“I’m so tired… I can’t do this ‘Geta, I’m so tired, I can’t.” Kakarot gasped out next to Vegeta’s ear.

“Don’t you dare give up Kakarot!” Vegeta growled, unwilling to consider what would happen if he did.  

“You can do it Kaka, he’s almost out. I can just see the head; don’t give up now, okay?” Dilla coaxed from Goku’s other side.  

Goku felt faint. He had gotten an oxygen tube placed under his nose after the baby’s heartrate had gotten low, but even so his head was swimming. The pain was never ending. For the first time since he had learned that he might die from this, Goku actually believed it, and the fear sent a cold rush through him. 

“Vegeta…” Goku muttered, voice weak. “If—If I don’t make it—You have to go to Earth and—Nnngh!” Another contraction hit him, and Goku bore down hard enough that he felt his skull creak. _The dragon balls, he had to tell—_

“You’ll make it Kakarot.” Vegeta told him, voice harsh, as if demanding that Goku listen to his order and follow it.

Goku’s scream overpowered the demand.

“He’s crowning, stop pushing for a moment Kaka!”

“It _burns!”_  

“I know.” Dilla told him. “But keep it for just a moment, or you might tear.”

“I don’t want to do this.” Goku stated with a whimper. He wanted to go home, back to Earth, far far away from here and any knowledge that this was even a possibility. He was going to die, and right now he almost didn’t care, he just wanted it to stop hurting!

“You _will_ do this.” Vegeta growled, body and voice as tense as Goku. “You’re strong. The strongest saiyan alive. There is no way something like this is ending you.”

When Goku just let out a sob despite Vegeta’s pep talk, Dilla bit her lip. “Here, give me one of your hands.” She told Goku, even as she grabbed the appendage herself. She led it down between Goku’s legs. “Here, you feel that? That’s your baby’s head. Just a little more and he’ll be out and you can hold him.”

Goku blinked pained tears from his eyes as he felt the soft tufts of his baby’s hair under his fingers. Holy shit, it was real. There was a tiny person coming out of his body. Goku suddenly realized that this wasn’t just happening to him, and the knowledge floored him, yet it also gave him enough strength that on the next contraction he pushed with every last shred of his power. Goku might die from this, but no way he was letting his kid die too.  

“Head’s out, one more push!”

Goku lost track of what was happening then, only aware of the pain, until suddenly that was gone too and he was on his back, a screaming sticky infant being placed on his chest.

Goku blinked dizzily against the overhead lights, his hazy vision slow to focus on Vegeta who was bent over him with a hand on their child’s back. Vegeta’s eyes looked darker than space like this, and Goku felt something settle in his chest when the alpha finally turned his fathomless eyes from their child to Goku’s. “I’m suppressing him now. You can let go, you did it Kakarot.”

Goku smiled weakly up at him, the lights shining brighter and brighter. “His name’s Gohan.”

Vegeta’s expression was obscured, too hazy for Goku to see. “Kakarot? What are you—Kakarot!?”

Then suddenly his mate was gone and everything went black in front of Goku’s eyes. He could still hear though.

“He’s bleeding too much! Get the medicine and get a transfusion going, now!”

Goku wished that he had looked at his son too. That was his last thought, and then he was gone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> ...Okay, but don't come at me with pitchforks yet, yea?   
> And Happy Halloween btw.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intermission of relative peace.

 

Goku woke up. He was pretty surprised about that. “I’m not dead?” He wondered out loud, his voice sounding rusty and dry. Wherever he was it was dark and soft.

Someone spoke through the darkness. “You almost were.” Vegeta’s deep voice informed him. “Your heart gave out; I had to send you energy just so it wouldn’t stop completely.”

Hearing his mate, Goku now became aware that they were in their bedroom, Vegeta was next to him, and there was someone else—small dissatisfied creaking noises could be heard right next to Goku’s head, and they urged him to turn despite his protesting body.

“Move slowly.” Vegeta cautioned him, putting a hand on his arm. “You’re still hooked up to a drop, and they managed to stop most of the bleeding, but be careful.”

“Can I see him?” Goku asked, more focused on the child he could both hear and smell rather than the pain flaring through his body. Vegeta moved to turn on the lights on low, revealing that he was holding their son in his arms. Goku blinked until his eyes adjusted, but then focused inherently on the baby. “Hey there… Gohan.”

Carefully Vegeta helped him get propped up with pillows, until Goku could hold Gohan against his bare chest and look down at him without strain. Vegeta sat back once Goku was settled and observed them with keen eyes.  “That’s a really horrible name you gave him. It doesn’t sound saiyan at all.”

Goku smiled down at their pouting baby who was curling his dark little tail firmly around Goku’s wrist. “Less confusing than having another Vegeta running around.” He reasoned. That said, Goku was a bit surprised to have gotten away with it. “You’re not objecting?”

Vegeta sighed, but didn’t take his eyes from his mate and child. “For a moment I thought naming him was going to be your last words. I wasn’t going to disrespect that.”

“And now?” Goku wondered.

“…You had me distracted, and by the time I thought to check, your little friend had already put his name in the system.” Vegeta admitted grumpily.   

Goku smirked and mentally thanked Dilla. He ran a finger down his son’s soft cheek and wondered how the almost painful feeling he got in his chest from looking at his baby could still feel so good. Goku had thought he knew what love was, and had wondered why other’s made such a fuss about it, finding the feeling quite easy himself. But whatever he had felt in the past didn’t compare to this. It was like the entire universe had shifted to put Gohan firmly in the middle, and Goku was helpless against the pull.  

Gohan didn’t know or care about his dad’s emotional epiphany. He was smacking his lips together, eyes still closed in his small squishy face, and letting out a complaining little creak, like an un-oiled door hinge, every now and then. It took Goku a couple of minutes, and a telling strain in his pecs, before he realized the cause. “Oh, are you hungry? Here you go.” Experimentally he tilted Gohan’s head until the boy’s mouth was next to his nipple. For a moment Goku wondered if he needed to do something else, but apparently the instinct to eat was strong for a saiyan no matter the age, and Gohan latched on by himself and started sucking like he was starving. Goku winced a little. “Oh man that feels weird.”

Vegeta watched his son feed in silence for a minute. “…He almost killed you. Right before he was fully out, you must have lost focus, and I—I didn’t realize. I didn’t notice he had stolen your energy until your heart almost stopped.” The strain in Vegeta’s voice as he spoke as clear, and Goku listened silently as he fed their son. Vegeta clenched his fists. “My negligence almost cost your life.”

“Don’t think that ‘Geta.” Goku said, knowing that he had to stop Vegeta in this particular angst spiral before it ran out of control. “If anything _I’m_ the one to blame for losing focus. You _did_ save me, so stop it with the ‘what if’ scenarios. I’m fine, Gohan’s fine, stop worrying about it.”

Vegeta fell silent but his jaw stayed clenched.

Goku sighed and focused back on his son who was still greedily feeding. He noticed something circled around Gohan’s tiny wrists then. “What are these?” Goku asked, carefully touching one of the apparently metallic thin wristbands.

“Power restraints. They are set to artificially suppress his power level to about ten right now, but we will up the number as he grows.” Vegeta answered.

“Huh.” Goku mumbled, now remembering the lecture he had gotten on power burn and its effects from his father during one of his calls. “So how high is his actual power level?”

Vegeta grew strangely still at the question.

“Vegeta?”

“…The scouters we had on hand couldn’t read it.” The prince admitted quietly, voice somewhere between frightened and awed. “But I felt it and… Gods. It’s higher than yours.”

_That_ made Goku look at his mate. “That high?! But he’s just a baby!”

“I know that.” Vegeta said, unable to hide the awe in his voice. “It almost makes me tremble to think how strong he will be once he gets older.”

Goku groaned and leaned more firmly into his back rest. “I can’t believe I was just surpassed by my own infant son.” He ran a hand down Gohan’s cheek again, causing the boy to finally blink one completely black eye open and squint up at him. “…Yet I’m not even mad about it.”

Vegeta snorted, amused by Goku’s admission. “He will need a lot of training to master his power. He hasn’t surpassed us yet.” He moved closer, until he was leaned next to Goku and able to look down at their son too. “Maybe he will someday, but I’m not just going to roll over and let him. As long as I’m not dead yet, I’m going to give him a run for his money. Can’t let my own brat surpass me _that_ easily.”

Goku smiled. “Agreed.” He tickled Gohan’s chubby little arm, which finally made the boy let go of his food source with an angry creak. “You hear that Gohan? Daddy and Papa will get stronger too.”

Gohan blinked at his parents with his black eyes, so like Vegeta’s, and then went back to eating, completely oblivious to anything but food and warmth.

 

xXx

 

Vegeta held his infant son firmly against his chest as he waited for the call to go through. He watched their reflection in the still dark communications screen and marveled at the strangeness of seeing himself holding a child, much less his own. Of course he didn’t get many chances to, considering how hard it was to wrestle the boy away from Kakarot.

After waking following his near death, the beta hadn’t let go of their son unless Vegeta specifically asked him to, and no one else had been allowed to hold Gohan either, not even his curious uncles. Vegeta knew it was a normal reaction, and that any other saiyan mother would be just as unwilling to part with their cub, much less hand it over to an alpha who wasn’t their mate, but he had still found it terribly amusing when Tarble had almost gotten his head blasted off after carelessly nearing Kakarot and his nephew. Apparently the younger prince hadn’t expected the hostility from his normally placid friend.   

For now Kakarot was still on bedrest, and grew continuously grumpier about it as the days went on. After the birth, his uterus not contracting properly had caused him to bleed excessively, which coupled with the power burn had almost cost him his life. As such he still wasn’t allowed to move around, no matter how testy he got about it. The first three days he had been relatively malleable, willing to stay in bed and do nothing but eat, sleep and feed Gohan, but after the worst of his muscle soreness had dispersed he had become quite intolerable. Right now Kakarot was sleeping though, and Vegeta was taking to chance to call his father, having still not given an official announcement about his son’s birth.

Finally the screen lit up, and king Vegeta appeared. “Prince Vegeta.” The king greeted his son as usual, only for his eyes to widen when he noticed what was in Vegeta’s arms. “I see your child has been born?”

Vegeta felt his heart pound against his ribs and strange mix of pride and nerves swirling in his chest as he tilted Gohan enough for his father to see. Gohan mostly looked like his birth parent, with only very few of Vegeta’s features. His skin was pale like Kakarot’s, his hair and tail completely black, and the already rather long locks on his head almost reminiscent of Raditz’ hairdo, except with bangs and more spikes on top. Kakarot had laughed and called it a ‘mullet’, whatever that meant. He had inherited Vegeta’s pitch black eyes though, rather than Kakarot’s warm brown ones. “Yes, five days ago. He’s a healthy alpha boy, but…”

“But?” King Vegeta urged.

“He… He has power burn.” Vegeta admitted. It wasn’t a shameful condition per say, but it was still very much in everyone’s mind just how dangerous it could be if not handled correctly. Just a few years back, Gohan would have been killed right after birth just to avoid him growing dangerous.

“I see.” King Vegeta said, and briefly closed his eyes in thought while stroking his beard. “Well, it’s not completely unexpected. After _your_ birth I suspected the possibility that it might become a future issue, hence why I pushed our scientists to find a solution.” He opened his eyes again and gazed steadily at Vegeta. “Still, I am sorry about your mate. I know you… _Cared_ … for the boy.”

Vegeta realized that his father knew about power burn normally being a death sentence to the laboring betas, and as such had to re-inform him. “Kakarot is alive.” He stated plainly, just to see his father’s shocked expression.

“But the power burn?” King Vegeta asked, brows raised. “That’s impossible.” 

Vegeta couldn’t help smirking, pleased with himself. “I found a solution to it. Some aliens on a backwater planet had the ability to control other people’s energies, and I made them teach Kakarot and I.” Well, just Kakarot really, but Vegeta had picked it up afterwards, so it wasn’t important. “After learning energy control from Kakarot already, it wasn’t that difficult.”

King Vegeta listened to his son’s explanation attentively, seeming almost amused, though there was a dark glint in his eyes. “And just how long did it take you to arrive at that solution? That’s a terrible lot of effort to put in for someone just meant to give you a strong child.”

“He—I- I just—“ Vegeta spluttered, taking a minute to realize that his father was actually _teasing him_ , albeit in a mean tone. It was something that happened so rarely that Vegeta was slow to recognize it. Their father-son relationship hadn’t been the warmest since the King had sacrificed Vegeta to Frieza, after which Vegeta’s mother had died as a result, and Vegeta couldn’t recall any time in recent memory where his father had acted jovially towards him, mostly because Vegeta didn’t welcome it. Even now he wasn’t sure he was reading the king right.

King Vegeta chuckled, but his mirth didn’t fully reach his eyes. “You know it’s funny. Back when I condoned you pursuing him, I had figured he would make a nice concubine for you, someone to warm your bed and keep you company, but nothing more.” The king stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I never expected you to just outright make him Prince Consort as soon as you had mated. It surprised me. That you had to audacity to do so without consulting me first even more so.”

Vegeta bristled and subconsciously pulled his son closer; despite his father being on the other side of a screen and as such nowhere in reach. It was true that some kings mated one partner, while being officially bound to another, and then kept their true mate on as a concubine. Their children wouldn’t be counted for anything then, and the concubines themselves would be little more than a plaything. Putting Kakarot in that position might have briefly crossed Vegeta’s mind when he had first met the beta, but Vegeta had quickly realized that he wouldn’t do anything as disgraceful as that. “He is my mate, and more than my equal in power. There is no question about his position.” Vegeta stated defiantly, voice and eyes hard as he gazed steadily back at his father.

King Vegeta merely lifted an eyebrow at the display, and Vegeta couldn’t help clenching his fists. Technically the king had the power to decide on titles, including Kakarot’s. If the king demanded it, then Kakarot could be demoted to concubine in a flash. And for Gohan that meant…

“No reason to look so pale Vegeta.” The king said, after feeling that he had tortured his son with silence for long enough. “If I had truly objected, then I would have done so back then. Of course your mate actually living through the birth was unexpected… I had counted on him being a problem that fixed itself, but ah well.”

“You—“ At those words Vegeta realized that his father had always expected power burn to become a problem for Vegeta’s offspring, and that Kakarot had as such been a calculated sacrifice in the king’s eyes from the beginning. “You said you were sorry, but you’re not sorry at all, are you?!” Vegeta accused. “You were counting on him to die!”

At his papa’s raised voice, Gohan started wailing. It was the first time since he was born that something in his cozy little world was rattled enough to scare him, and as such he had never really cried loudly before. But if Bardock and Gine had been there right then, they could have informed Vegeta that Gohan had also inherited his mother’s lung capacity. The boy was _loud_.

Roused by his son’s cries, Goku appeared in the bedroom door within moments, blinking groggily, a robe hastily wrapped around him and hair mussed. “Gohan?” He called, even as he started walking closer. “Why is he crying like that Vegeta, what did you do?” He demanded to know, reaching his mate in no time and snatching Gohan from him as quickly as he safely could. Goku didn’t even notice King Vegeta watching the spectacle on the screen.

“I didn’t do anything.” Vegeta defended, arms feeling strangely empty without holding the warm little bundle that was his son. “He was just spooked by a noise, that’s all!”

Goku listened with a half ear, too busy comforting and shushing Gohan to pay full attention. Being enveloped in his mother’s warmth and scent, Gohan’s cries quickly tampered off, and he sniffled and smacked his lips while blinking wet eyes up at Goku, as if demanding to know why the world was so cruel as to scare him like that. Goku recognized the lip smacking. “You’re hungry, huh? Well we can’t have that. Gotta eats lots to grow big, yes you do.” Goku babbled at him as he sat down and pulled one part of his robe to the side, then placed Gohan against his chest so he could feed.

Vegeta watched his mate and son for a moment, taking careful note of Goku’s face color. Luckily he didn’t look too pale yet, and he didn’t seem to be in pain. Assessment done, he then turned back to glare at his father, who had been watching silently until then. “If you even _think_ about going after him…” Vegeta growled lowly, referring to Kakarot. “Don’t think a shield will stop me from getting to you.”

“Is that a threat?” King Vegeta asked.

“Yes.” Vegeta responded coldly, eyes hard.

Goku finally noticed that they weren’t technically alone, and blinked up at the screen in bewilderment. “Whoa.” He said as he laid eyes on King Vegeta for the first time. “Wow you really look alike. Can you grow a beard like that Vegeta?”

Goku’s thoughtless comment served to break the thick tension a bit. It was hard to have a charged stare-down over insinuated murder when the theoretical victim was acting so happily oblivious.

King Vegeta cleared his throat and adopted a thinly woven expression of politeness. “I don’t believe we have been introduced.” He told Goku. “Quite the failing on my son’s part really. Why don’t you do us the honor Vegeta?”

Vegeta would rather punch his father squarely in the face right now than do him any honor, but he kept his temper in check as to not spook Goku. “Kakarot, this is my father… King Vegeta.” He gestured halfheartedly after giving the rather informal introduction.

The king’s polite veneer twitched at the disrespect, but he controlled himself too and merely smiled like a fox at his son in law, even if he wasn’t completely able to hide his sneer as he spoke. “It’s a pleasure, _Kakarot_.”    

“Uh, likewise.” Goku responded slowly, while pulling the still feeding Gohan a bit closer. He felt like there was something amiss here, but couldn’t really put his finger on what. He hadn’t listened to what Vegeta and his father had been saying before, too focused on his son. Now he felt like he had missed something.

“Why don’t you go back to bed Kakarot? I’ll join you as soon as I finish talking to my father.” Vegeta suggested in a controlled tone.

“Uhm, okay I guess…” Goku mumbled and stood back up, being sure to keep Gohan steady. “Bring a mug of tea?” He requested carefully, not really knowing what he had walked into but wanting to get out of it as soon as possible.

“Of course.” Vegeta told him steadily, and then kept watching silently until Goku had entered the bedroom again and closed the door. Then he swirled to face his father once more. “ _You_ —“ Vegeta hissed.

The king stroked his beard. “He is very beautiful, not to mention sweet. Strong too. I can see why you are so besotted with him Vegeta.”

 “Yet you plan to harm him!?!”

“Hmm.” King Vegeta hummed thoughtfully. “No. He proved his strength during the Tvekamp and has given you a strong heir.” He sighed, almost dejectedly. “Besides that you seem surprisingly serious about keeping him. Even if something happened to him at this point, I doubt you would willingly take another mate from the elite.”

“You’re right about that.” Vegeta growled, while clenching and unclenching his hands restlessly, body trembling from suppressed rage. “And if something _should_ happen to him, then I’ll show you just how much stronger than you I have grown.”

“So it has finally come to that, has it.” King Vegeta noted.

Theoretically, a king’s rule didn’t have to end with his death. If his successor overpowered him in battle before then, then the crown would automatically shift to the younger. Vegeta had never challenged his father, both out of respect and for practical reasons, like the shield being in the way, but over the last year he had slowly felt that status quo shift, and this was the final straw. “Yes it has.” He said lowly. “If you aim for my mate and child, then I will not hesitate in aiming for you.”

“I see.” The king didn’t show any immediate reaction to the threatening ultimatum, but then, ever so slowly, he showed a tiny genuine smile. “It’s strange. While I mostly want to wring your neck, part of me is… Pleased. You’re more settled than before Vegeta, more… Secure in yourself. I always suspected part of you had been broken during your ‘service’ for Frieza, but it would seem like I was wrong.” He tilted his head. “Or perhaps you have managed to heal it by meeting that mate of yours.”

“I don’t care about your sentimentality, it’s too little too late.” Vegeta snapped, hackles raised and fangs on display. “I want you to swear to me that you’ll never lay a hand on Kakarot or my son.”

“…Fine, I swear it.” King Vegeta said after a moment, while he gazed steadily back at his son’s burning eyes. “I don’t expect you will believe me, but I actually wasn’t planning on doing anything to him. He appears to be good for you, in a strange way.”

Vegeta huffed disbelievingly. “You mean you weren’t planning anything _right now_. I know you’re sore about his birth class, but I won’t let your prejudice ruin what I have here.”

“I suppose that’s all there is to say then.” King Vegeta noted.         

“It is.”

“Goodbye for now then. Take care in raising the next Vegeta.”

“Gohan.” Vegeta corrected. “His name is Gohan.”

King Vegeta made a face. “ _Gohan_?” He repeated derisively, like the name left a bad taste. “Is this more of your mate’s machinations? You’d go as far as to throw away our family name?!”

“It’s still his middle name.” Vegeta said, voice even. “Besides… Sometimes change is good.” With those words Vegeta terminated the call before his father could protest, made two mugs of tea, and then went to join his mate in their bedroom, his hands only faintly shaking.

 

**6 months later:**

“Should we eat the red or the yellow pudding first?” Goku asked.

“Bah!” Gahan responded, and smacked his chubby little hands down on the table, his metallic power suppressors glinting as he moved.

“You’re right, the red one does smell better. Yummy berry flavor, I think.” Goku said as he pulled that bowl closer. Gohan continued bouncing happily in his mother’s lap; one of his new favorite pastimes since he figured out sitting on his own.

Goku started eating, offering Gohan a bite every so often, which the boy always took. On the other side of the dining table Tarble and Raditz watched with fascination, while Vegeta, being used to it, ignored the display in favor of finishing some paperwork. So far their first family dinner in a while was turning more into being the Gohan show than actual dinner. Vegeta didn’t know why both his brother and his mate insisted on the farce. 

“It’s still odd, seeing a saiyan baby after so long.” Raditz remarked, unable to hide a small grin. _He_ didn’t mind family dinners, even if he found the concept odd. It got him out of work after all. 

Tarble nodded, a bit distracted since he had to leave an experiment behind to be here today. “Gohan won’t be the only one for long. It’s like Goku giving birth suddenly kicked everyone else’s biological clock into gear. I know of at least three people being pregnant now.”

“It’s going to be a nightmare to plan around the leaves of absence.” Vegeta grumbled, brows furrowed and eyes still focused on his work.

“Aww, don’t say that ‘Geta.” Goku scolded with a smile while wiping pudding off Gohan’s chin. “This way he’ll actually have some playmates his own age.”

Raditz smirked. “What, you’re not feeling up for making him one yourself?” He teased.

Goku made a face, but Vegeta was the one who responded. “Considering the dangers involved it’s unlikely.”

“Or so he says.” Goku added on with a shrug, not having much of an opinion about it himself. While he hadn’t exactly enjoyed being pregnant, and the birth had been both painful and almost killed him, he wasn’t completely against having another baby around. He mostly wavered when Gohan was doing something extra cute, like smiling or eating his toes or _existing_. “Power burn’s pretty rare, so maybe it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Or maybe it _will_ be a problem and this time you’ll die from it.” Vegeta countered, finally looking up from his work. “At this point I’m not willing to risk it. Once you’re less addled from baby pheromones you’ll change your tune too.”

Goku stuck his tongue out at his mate, then focused back on Gohan, who looked up at his mother with a pudding smeared smile. “Papa says that like he’s not crazy about you. But we know, don’t we? We knoooow.” He sing-songed, while tickling Gohan’s belly and making the baby laugh. Goku knew he might be a bit baby-brained at the moment, but rather thought he deserved it after laboring for almost 24 hours and risking his life. Besides that he had also made the world’s best baby, so he had room to be proud.

“I think the most surprising thing about all this has been Kakarot actually being good at dealing with a cub.” Raditz remarked, still watching his little brother tickle his nephew. “I really didn’t see that coming.”

Vegeta snorted. “Well feast your eyes. It’s the _one_ domestic thing he knows how to do aside from making tea.” He stated in a flat voice, not nearly as impressed.

“Come now brother,” Tarble interjected. “Goku is good at a lot of things, I’m sure.”

“Yea!” Goku said, glaring at Vegeta with a slightly offended expression. “I cooked the other day!”

“You set the kitchenette on fire making pasta.” Vegeta countered. “ _Pasta_ , Kakarot. You’re lucky that you mated royalty, and that you don’t need any domestic abilities, or you’d be screwed.”  

“I did wonder about the scorch marks.” Raditz mumbled, eying the wall and ceiling that the renovation crew hadn’t gotten to yet.

Goku pouted. “Well at least _I_ tried. I bet you’ve never cooked either!”

“I’m a prince, so why would I need to?” Vegeta said, then looked at his son, who stared back with a clueless smile while gumming on a spoon. “I hope you grow up to have better sense than your mother.”

“Hey!”

“I can’t believe I missed watching fungus grow in the laboratory for this.” Tarble muttered, before taking a sip of his tea. Raditz overheard and laughed so hard that he overturned a glass of wine. The table was flooded and Vegeta’s paperwork was done in. Gohan squealed in glee when the red liquid covered the table, and then got even louder when his father decided to go after Raditz for ruining his work.

Goku watched his mate chase his brother around the room with just as much amusement as his son, laughing loudly while Raditz dodged wildly and begged for mercy.

Tarble continued drinking his tea unfazed; at this point completely desensitized to the mayhem.

 

**3 months later:**

 

A wail stopped Goku in his tracks as he was doing his katas. With a deep sigh Goku abandoned his stance and went to pick the just awoken Gohan up. Oh well, he had been feeling pretty tired and sweaty already, despite only training for a couple of hours. At this rate he’d never get his washboard abs back.

“Hey buddy.” He mumbled as he kneeled next to and then bent over his son, who was lying on a blanket in the training room so Goku could still watch him. Gohan rubbed his eyes with his tiny fists and sniffled loudly. “There’s no need to panic just because you can’t immediately see me you know.” Goku scolded gently and rubbed his son’s belly. Gohan just mewled and reached his little arms up towards his mother, wanting to be picked up. With a small smile, Goku did just that.

As soon as the still sleepy baby was in his mother’s arms, he started nuzzling searchingly against Goku’s chest. “Hey now, none of that. You know I don’t have any more for you.” Goku said, gently raising Gohan so the nine month old could rest against his shoulder instead.

Gohan let out a complaining little whine at this, still sleepy and having very little understanding for why he couldn’t get his mother’s milk anymore, even if he was already eating solids like a champ.  Goku padded his diapered butt with a chuckle and went to stand up.

Five seconds later Goku was back to kneeling on the ground, black dots dancing in front of his eyes and head swimming. Gohan was crying in his ear, frightened by the sudden fall his mother had done, even if Goku had instinctively held him close as to not drop him.

_‘What the hell?’_ Goku thought, even as he shushed his son. He hadn’t gotten dizzy like that since he was pregnant with Gohan, and that definitely wasn’t the case now.

…Right?

He had been feeling pretty hot the last couple of days though, and his nipples were sort of sensitive even though he wasn’t nursing anymore, and the smell of certain foods put him off and… oh shit.

“Okay, time to see Coquille.” Goku stated to both himself and the still crying Gohan, and then got up again, this time more slowly.

Ten minutes later he knocked on the doorjamb to the med-bay and looked around in the hopes that someone was there, despite the fact that it was lunch time. Gohan was still hanging on his shoulder, mewling dejectedly. “Hello? Is anyone here?”

Some scrambling sounded from the next room. “Kaka? Is that you?” Dilla asked as she stuck her head out, a mug of ivkah in her hand. “Hey there, what’s up?”

“Oh, hey Dilla.” Goku had quite forgotten that his friend was interning under Coquille right now to broaden her knowledge of the medical field. His brain was still kind of scattered these days when it came to anything not baby or training related. “I uh, I was wondering if you could give me a checkup?”

Dilla raised an eyebrow as she slowly exited the other room completely. “You? You’re actually coming by for a checkup yourself, _willingly_?” She eyed Goku critically. “Are you dying?”

Goku laughed nervously and rubbed his neck. “Ah, no… It’s just… I got dizzy after training, when I tried to stand up, and that hasn’t happened since I was pregnant, so…”

“Ahh, I see.” Dilla said while nodding lightly. “Right, hop on the table. I don’t think you’re pregnant, but give me a minute and we’ll see if I’m right.”

Goku did as told. He held Gohan with one arm and gritted his teeth as Dilla drew blood from the other, then let himself be subjected to his friend’s varied poking and prodding as the sample was analyzed.

“Well you’re not pregnant. Yet.” Dilla told him a few minutes later, as she looked over the results.

“Yet?” Goku repeated faintly. Not at all would be preferable. Getting enough sleep with _one_ baby was hard enough; the thought of two was kind of horrifying. Vegeta had been right; Goku _had_ regained most of his common senses by now, and really wasn’t eager to get pregnant again at the moment.

“Your blood pressure is a bit lower than usual, but that’s a common symptom. I bet you’ve been more tired too?”

“It’s a bit hard to tell thanks to this guy.” Goku responded, bouncing Gohan slightly. Right now his son had the idea that 4 am was a marvelous time to wake up and have a party, and Goku really missed sleeping through the night. “He’s also gotten the hang of running, so _that’s_ fun.”

It really wasn’t most of the time. Gohan was fast, and Base One was big and hard to find your way around in. Goku felt like every time he took his eyes off his son for more than five seconds, Gohan had found something else to get into that would nearly cause Goku a heart-attack. Vegeta was less stressed about it, saying that saiyan babies were strong and that Gohan could have probably wiped a small scale planet by himself by now. Given their son’s fascination with eating his own toes and being addicted to berry pudding, Goku didn’t feel so sure of that.    

Dilla chuckled at her friend’s deadpan delivery, noting that Goku did have some pretty heavy rings around his eyes. “Well, you’re going into heat; which isn’t so surprising since you’ve stopped nursing. I’m not surprised you didn’t realize though, ‘cause it probably feels different from what you’ve experienced before. You’re mated now and your child is still young, so you won’t have the same drive to go find an alpha. Well, as long as Vegeta delivers, otherwise all bets are off.” She ended with a smirk.

Betas with a mate and young children didn’t experience the same level of aggression and battle lust, though they could still be restless. Instead they got almost flu-like symptoms a couple of days before their heat really hit, and then got very, _very_ territorial. Dilla hadn’t missed the way Goku was already keeping his son away from her and holding him tightly, refusing to let her even greet the kid.    

“Heat?! But I—“ Goku broke himself off and stared down at Gohan helplessly. Gohan gazed back with his dark eyes, sensing that something was bothering his mother but unable to understand what.

“You already have a kid? You don’t want to get pregnant again?” Dilla guessed, being pretty up to date with what went on in her friend’s life now that she was living on Base One. When Goku nodded, she smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I’ll give you a shot of birth control, and you’ll be able to enjoy your heat without repercussions. You look like you could need some down time.”

Goku couldn’t deny that. He closed his eyes in relief and sighed deeply. “Phew. That’s good to hear.”

Dilla smiled at him and then went to find the right bottle. “I don’t get my heats because of my suppressants, but unfortunately we don’t have any which are sure to work on male betas for longer periods of time. You guys are so few in numbers that you’re severely underrepresented in the medical field.”

“Tell me about it.” Goku muttered, already aware that just taking suppressants wasn’t an option for him. It wasn’t that he hadn’t liked the one heat he had shared with Vegeta, but three to four days were still a long time to take out of the calendar when you had a baby who needed you, so he had talked about solutions with Basil but hadn’t had much luck. Apparently there was no way to stop Goku from having heats right now.

“Aww, don’t be grumpy Kaka. If I had a hot mate waiting around for me, I wouldn’t be taking suppressants either.” Dilla teased as she gave him the injection. Goku made sure to turn his head away and squeeze his eyes shut, nose burrowed in his son’s hair and drawing in his calming baby smell. “There, all done. You better get back and start putting things in order before your heat really starts. You probably only have until tonight.”

“Right.” Goku said with a sigh, then stood up and waved to Dilla. “See ya Dilla. Say bye bye Gohan?”

Gohan pulled his drooly fist from his mouth and waved it carefully, with a shy expression. “Byebuh.”

“Aww, you’re adorable.” Dilla cooed, eyes on the little prince. She made sure not to touch though. “Bye bye Gohan, I’ll come visit you while daddy and papa are busy.”

Goku blushed but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t wrong.

xXx

Vegeta wasn’t completely sure why he had gotten a note from the med-bay telling him to take the next four days off, but he had a faint idea. When he entered the quarters he shared with Kakarot and their son, the sweat scent hanging in the air confirmed his suspicions. Vegeta drew in a deep breath with closed eyes and grinned. When he opened them again, Kakarot was there, standing by the couches and fiddling awkwardly with his hands.

Vegeta stalked forward and drew his mate into a loose embrace, one eyebrow raised as he took in Kakarot’s flushed cheeks. “Where’s Gohan?”

“With Tarble.” Kakarot answered, not looking Vegeta directly in the eyes and nervously licking his lips. “It’s weird, him not being here…”

Vegeta ignored Kakarot’s twitchy mannerisms, knowing it was mostly nerves from being separated from his cub, and pulled the beta closer with a pleased rumble. “Good.” He breathed into Kakarot’s ear. “For the next four days you’re _mine._ ”

Much as Vegeta liked his son, sharing his mate with the boy wasn’t always that fun, and aside from all the sex he and Kakarot were going to be having, Vegeta looked forward through sleeping through the night almost as much.  

“U-uhm, I’m on birth control.” Kakarot stammered suddenly, sounding nervous for some reason.

Vegeta drew back a bit, confused. “Okay?” He asked. When the beta just continued to stare at him apprehensively, Vegeta frowned and continued. “It’s your body. You can do what you want.”

“So you don’t mind?”

“Why the hell would I mind?” Vegeta asked, eyebrows deeply furrowed. Alpha’s had no say in reproductive matters; the betas were the ones to decide. If an alpha wanted offspring he would have to prove himself as capable to a beta and hope they decided to have a cub with him. Vegeta had already done that, and while his instincts might think another progeny was a great idea, Vegeta wasn’t likely to let himself be controlled by them.

Whatever had been bothering Kakarot, Vegeta’s words seemed to have calmed him down and he slumped into Vegeta’s arms while letting out a relieved breath. “That’s good. You were so gung-ho about having a kid after my last heat that I just thought…”

Vegeta snorted, but couldn’t help smirking a little. Yea, he had certainly been more than heavy handed in convincing Kakarot, but it had paid off in the end, so he didn’t feel bad about it in the least. “I already told you; I’m still not willing to risk it.”

Kakarot hummed, then reached up and drew Vegeta into a slow kiss. “Good.” He breathed lowly against Vegeta’s mouth. “No worries then.”

“No worries.” Vegeta repeated, and then pulled Kakarot closer, enjoying the soft and warm feel of his mate. Four days of this… In this at least, Vegeta felt he was a pretty lucky guy.      

 

**One year and 3 months later:**

“I’ve got you daddy!” Gohan yelled, jumping out from behind a rock in the nature room.

“Ooops, no you don’t.” Goku said, deftly avoiding his two year old toddler.

Gohan flailed to keep from face-planting into the ground, but managed to steady himself and spun to face his mother again. “Did you know where I was?” He asked, pouting that he hadn’t managed to tag Goku. Gohan’s speech wasn’t the clearest, but his parents and uncles were all able to understand him despite his problems with pronouncing certain sounds. “I hid my ki and everything…”

Goku had to stop himself from laughing. Gohan had indeed hidden his ki, but the boy’s giggling had given him away. “You did hide it very well, I just heard you make a small noise.” Goku told him, being sure to praise. “Lucky me! Otherwise you’d definitely have gotten me with that attack.”

While Gohan was smart for his age, he still wasn’t able to see through his mother’s deception, and blushed happily. “I’ll get you this time daddy!”

“Jup. Do your best.” Goku told him, and then watched as Gohan ran off to hide and stalk Goku from the shadows again. Goku was proud of his kid for being such a fast learner; just a few months ago Gohan hadn’t been able to suppress his ki at all.

“Still playing your little game I see.”

“Vegeta!” Goku had sensed his mate’s approach, but had figured he was simply passing by, and was therefore a bit surprised that the prince had actually joined them in the nature room. “I thought you were working?”

“Lunch break.” Vegeta responded, then sat down on a rock next to Goku as he scouted the landscape for their son. “Shouldn’t you be moving around? You’re making it too easy for him like this. He’ll never learn anything if you keep coddling him.”

Goku huffed. Despite facing disapproval from Vegeta’s council of generals and even Vegeta himself, Goku refused to teach Gohan in a manner that wasn’t fun for the boy. As such their ‘training’ consisted of things which could be easily thought of as games, even if Goku carefully made sure to continuously up the difficulty. “He’s learning to sneak up on me right now. Stalk and attack we call it. I’m actually making it harder for him by standing still and paying attention.”

“Tch.” Vegeta crossed his arms. “He’d still be better served with actual tutors teaching him to _fight_. Not all these silly games of yours.”

“He’s _two years old_ Vegeta, so lay off.” Goku responded with a growl. While Goku was completely on board with making Gohan a strong fighter, his ideas of childrearing differed a lot from Vegeta’s and the other saiyans’. Goku might not have had the most stable childhood, but his grandpa had never made training feel like a chore, or hurt him during it. The old man had always made it a game for Goku, and the positive emotions associated with that first childhood training had stuck with Goku to this very day, making him enjoy it a lot more, even when he pushed himself. Goku wanted to do the same for his own son, not ‘toughen him up’ through continuous beat downs like a saiyan tutor would do.

Vegeta tsked and looked away, but didn’t fight Goku on the subject. While he’d never admit to it, Goku knew that Vegeta was soft on Gohan too, even if he tended to hide it. “…Here he comes.”

“I’ve got you daddy!”

Despite Vegeta’s warning, Goku was unprepared for his son pouncing on him from above. Gohan crashed onto his mother’s back and wrapped his arms around Goku’s neck, hanging on while giggling. “Gohan! How did you—?”

“Hi papa!” Gohan interjected with a big grin, noticing his other parent.

“He flew.” Vegeta told Goku while waving lazily to his son. He had observed their kid’s wobbly flight as he snuck up on Goku from above. “I didn’t know you had taught him that yet.” He added with a pleased note. Flying at the age of two wasn’t bad at all.

“I… I haven’t.” Goku stated with surprise, while unwrapping Gohan’s chubby arms from his neck. He drew Gohan around his body and placed the boy on his popped hip. “How’d you learn that buddy?”

Gohan blinked up at his mother with his large black eyes. “I just did like you. Like… Like Phwa!” He gestured in front of his chest.

Vegeta lifted an eyebrow. “Is he talking about ki control?” He asked, being relatively well versed in translating baby language by now.

“I think so…” Goku mumbled. Could that really be right? Goku hadn’t touched on the subject much yet, only focusing on how to diminish one’s own ki, not how to keep it steady enough while still expelling it for flight. “I can’t believe you figured that out all on your own. That’s amazing Gohan!”

“He he.” Gohan giggled and hid his face against Goku’s shoulder, pleased but embarrassed by the praise as always.

Vegeta stood up and walked over to ruffle Gohan’s long wild hair, making it even messier. “Well done boy. It seems like your mother’s training isn’t completely in vain.”

“Daddy’s.” Goku corrected. He knew that all birth parents were called mothers among saiyans, but still wasn’t overly fond of the term in regards to himself. Vegeta called it left over Earth mentality, and Goku thought that was probably true, but still felt weird about being called something he considered to be a feminine denominator. Hence why Gohan called him ‘daddy’, even if the boy would occasionally refer to Goku as his mom when talking to others.

“Yea yea, have it your way.” Vegeta said, rolling his eyes. “You always do anyway.”

“Are you eating with us papa?” Gohan asked, lifting his head out of hiding and watching Vegeta with begging eyes. Much as Vegeta tended to act aloof around him, Gohan absolutely adored his father.

Vegeta wasn’t quite able to keep a stern expression in the face of Gohan’s begging. Aside from his eye color, the boy looked too much like his mother, and if there was anyone Vegeta was weak against it was Goku. “I suppose I will, seeing how well you’ve progressed.”

“Yaaay! Food! And papa!” Gohan wiggled out of Goku’s arms and jumped down, then immediately raced for the exit, eager to get back to their rooms before his time with his father ran out.

“Don’t run too far ahead! Stay in sight Gohan!” Goku yelled after him, then turned to Vegeta with a slightly troubled smile. “Do you think you could start coming back a bit earlier? He doesn’t say anything, but he watches the door like a hawk all evening, waiting for you to show up.” And sometimes Gohan would be put to bed before Vegeta was even back.

“I have to work Kakarot. The situation being what it is, I should be working until night, not coming back in time for bedtime stories.” Vegeta responded tensely.

Goku sighed and started walking, Vegeta keeping pace. The situation on planet Vegeta hadn’t exactly gotten less dicey over the last two years, only worse, and Frieza wasn’t letting up. The pirate lord had also recently abandoned his venire of politeness towards the Galactic Patrol, being now ready to start taking planets in the Milky Way; the Galactic Patrol’s area of residence. It had of course caused a lot of unrest, and amidst it all, Goku worried about Earth, which was now more likely to be attacked than ever. “I know that, and I can bring him when I teach my classes, but I have to start going on longer dignitary missions with Tarble too soon, and I just— I don’t want him to feel abandoned…”

Being royalty unfortunately didn’t mean that Goku got out of working, more the opposite in fact. But having a child to take care of, and being the royal consort, meant that Goku got away with teaching classes on ki control a couple of times a week and playing host to alien dignitaries instead of going on missions. This actually suited him just fine. While Goku enjoyed a good fight, the bloody purges their army did could hardly be called that. Goku would rather stay close to his son and train on base, either alone or with Vegeta when he had time, which unfortunately wasn’t often these days…   

“Hnn.” Vegeta responded, but didn’t offer up any platitudes.

They caught up to their son and shared a meal, and only once Gohan had been put down for a nap and Vegeta was ready to leave, one hand already on the door, did the prince turn to address Goku again. “I’ll try to see him more, but…” He trailed off with a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “We have to keep the goal in mind Kakarot. Our son is already two, and he has never even set foot on his own planet. We’re raising him on a _military base_ for gods’ sake. The only way to regain his birthright, _our_ birthright, is to end Frieza once and for all.”

Goku wrapped his arms around himself and looked down. “I know.” That was why he trained after all, every day without fault. Goku still wanted to face Frieza, but living for so long among other saiyans, and seeing the tragedy wrought on both his own people and on others, had gradually made the grudge towards the dictator more personal for Goku. Where he had started out simply wanting to fight someone strong, he had slowly gotten more and more reasons why he had to win, more things to protect. By now Goku knew simply winning wouldn’t be enough. They had to kill him.

But knowing their situation didn’t mean he couldn’t also miss Vegeta a little sometimes.

Vegeta eyed his dejected looking mate, then sighed and pulled him into a brief hug. “We’re getting closer. Just be patient for now.”

Goku closed his eyes and nuzzled into Vegeta’s neck, drawing comfort from his alpha’s scent. Waiting didn’t bother him as much as Frieza’s rapid conquest into the Milky Way did. _That_ was what had Goku stressed.

If Frieza’s forces reached Earth… Goku didn’t know what he would do.

 

**Another year passes:**

 

“Then I’ll do this, and then this, and see? I won papa!” Gohan exclaimed.

Vegeta frowned down at the playing board. “You… Did.” He allowed slowly.

Goku had been half napping, half watching their game from the couch, and he chuckled at Vegeta’s expression at losing to a three year old. Not that Goku usually won against Gohan anymore either, but this was the first time the boy had managed to beat his father. The boy had just had his birthday the other day, and Tarble was fascinated by Gohan’s progress, calling him very advanced even for a saiyan child, who were prone to mature fast anyway. Goku wouldn’t be able to say; he had never really spent time around children on Earth and as such had nothing to compare to. He did believe that his son was amazing though.  

Still smiling, Goku reached over and ruffled Gohan’s hair. “Well done Gohan! You got all your father’s smarts. Good thing too.”

“Stop that Kakarot.” Vegeta said lowly from the other side of the table, never liking it when Goku spoke badly of himself, especially when he belittled his own intelligence. Then he turned his attention to Gohan. “But your mother is right, that was a smart move.”

Gohan squirmed and giggled with a pleased expression, loving that he had both of his parents’ attention for once and that he had gotten praised. That was the whole reason Gohan tried so hard to do everything well. His daddy often praised him and showered him in hugs and kisses, but Gohan had to do something extra special or show that he’d gotten a lot better at something before he was praised by his papa. It made him want to work hard to earn it. Well, that and one other thing. “That means I get double dessert!” He looked at his daddy, just to make sure, but Goku just laughed and nodded at him.

They never played any game without something on stake, usually some type of food, but sometimes it was another hour to stay up in before bedtime. It didn’t matter overly much what they chose, as long as it was something Gohan valued and was motivated to get.

Vegeta sighed. Gohan winning meant that he didn’t get any dessert at all, such were the rules. If you lost the game, you lost something too. While they didn’t always play with that rule, they had started doing so more and more after Gohan turned older and losing the rights to dessert or something else would no longer cause an hour long meltdown; toddler style.

While Vegeta called the kitchens, Gohan crawled onto his mother’s belly and chest and flopped down. Goku stroked his back and hummed calmingly, allowing the little one to rest. While Gohan looked pleased to have won against his father, it had taken him almost two hours to do so, and Goku knew he was probably tired from concentrating for that long. “You can take a little nap until the food gets here.” He offered gently.

“M’kay daddy…” Gohan mumbled, already nodding off with his mother’s steady heartbeat thumbing under his head. Goku smiled as he felt Gohan’s tail wrap around his wrist, a habit his son had had since he was a newborn and still always did when he wanted to be comfortable. Perhaps it subconsciously made him feel certain that his parent was still there. Goku softly ran a finger over Gohan’s tail, then sighed and rested his eyes a bit himself.

Vegeta couldn’t have taken more than a minute making the call for their dinner to be brought, but despite that, when he turned his attention back to his mate and child, Vegeta found them both soundly asleep on the couch.

Vegeta eyed them both, unimpressed. It wasn’t even five yet. But even so, he couldn’t help watching them.

When they slept next to each other like that, it became even more apparent how much they looked alike. The older Gohan got, the more Vegeta was starting to see his own features in him, but the boy still took overwhelmingly after his carrier. They certainly made for a cute picture lying together like that though, and seeing as he was alone, Vegeta allowed himself to smile at the sight. The entire situation with their planet and Frieza might only be getting worse and worse, but as long as he had Kakarot and his son…   

Vegeta shook his head with a self-deprecating smile and went to find them a blanket.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sure hope you didn’t place your whole entire emotional stability on Goku and Gohan’s wellbeing Vegeta, because uhhh… 
> 
> Just one more time passing chapter to go I think. Enjoy the fluff while it lasts.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goku might only be a prince consort of saiyans, but he’s the king of bad ideas.

Gohan fidgeted, unable to sit still on the couch as he waited for the call to his grandmother to go through.

Goku reached over and stroked his hair with a smile. Having grown up with no family aside from his adoptive grandfather, whom he had lost early on, Goku was happy that that wasn’t the case for his son. Gohan had uncles, both his parents _and_ grandparents; one of which he really liked.

Finally Gine appeared on the screen, smiling as soon as she spotted her grandson.

“Grandma!”

“Hi Gohan.” She said, then looked the boy over with theatrical thoroughness. “Well oh my. Is it just me, or did you get even _bigger_ than last time I saw you? Try standing up so I can compare.”

Gohan instantly stood up on the cushions, wobbling a bit because of his soft footing, before posing with his fists on his side and chest strutting. “I turned _three_ last week grandma, so I’m big now! I got cake, and uncle Raditz was there, and uncle Tarble, and papa was also there almost all day! A-and then yesterday I won over papa in Daam!”

“Whoa! You did?” Gine asked, eyes wide, clutching her chest. Goku had to wrap his lips around his teeth to keep himself from laughing at his mother’s antics. “I can’t believe I have such a clever grandson!” She tilted her head and tabbed her chin thoughtfully. “But your grandad _is_ a genius, your uncle’s a scientist and your father is very smart too. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised, huh?”

Gohan giggled and flopped down to hide himself shyly in the cushions at all the praise. Goku chuckled and let his son roll around, then turned his attention back to Gine. “How’re you doing mom?”

His mother smiled wanly at him, and Goku felt his heart sink a bit. While she kept on a good cheer for Gohan, Gine was pale, her cheeks sunken and hair dull. She never complained, but from talking to his dad, Goku knew that her health wasn’t the best anymore, thanks to the hunger. Goku felt bad about being here on Base One, eating whatever and whenever he wanted, while his parents barely scraped by. The last couple of years had been unusually dry, even for planet Vegeta, and by now everyone was affected by the resource scarceness, even the elite.

“Mom… I really think I should do something about it.” Goku said, referring to the drought and the hunger and, well, everything. “I know dad says not to for some reason, but whatever he’s seen it can’t be as bad as everyone on the planet star—“ Goku cut himself off with a glance to his son, not wanting to worry Gohan with the situation. He was three; there was no reason for him to know.

 “Kaka…” Gine sighed, eyes closed. “I don’t know what this ‘thing’ you think you can do about it is, seeing as you won’t tell us, but your father is adamant that you don’t go anywhere, okay?” She gazed at him worriedly. “I can handle… This.” She gestured vaguely, also mindful of small ears, “But don’t make me lose you again. Sixteen years of not knowing if you were alive or dead was enough.”

Goku clenched his fists in frustration and looked down. He didn’t know what his father had seen that made him so worried, and Bardock stayed completely mum about his visions unless it was absolutely necessary for him to talk. Something about peoples actions affecting the outcome too much if they knew, making Bardock unable to tell what would happen or help.

But it wasn’t like Goku had a foot to stand on when it came to keeping secrets though. He still felt very apprehensive about telling anyone of the Dragon Balls. While he had lived with Kami on the lookout, the old man had told him again and again how dangerous near unlimited power could be for mortals to handle. Having seen both the Red Ribbon army and people bent on world domination, Goku believed it too. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Vegeta, but… Vegeta was over cautious to a fault, skeptical to the extreme, and even if he _did_ believe Goku about a set of magical wish-balls, he probably still wouldn’t allow Goku to go off on his own.

This was problematic seeing as Bulma probably wouldn’t lend the Dragon Radars to anyone but him, and that still left the fact that actually getting to Earth was still a problem. Not only was the trip over a week long, even with the warp points, the route also passed straight through the area most affected by the fighting right now. Getting through a fleet of battle ships undetected required a bit more of either technical savvy or piloting abilities than Goku was in possession of.

“Oh, I think Bardock’s coming back.” Gine remarked, eyes focused on the door on her own side of the screen. Her observation snapped Goku out of his thoughts. “Just a moment Kaka, I’ll just let your father in.” She stood up and took a few steps, only to suddenly freeze up oddly and grip the chair’s backrest hard enough for her fingers to go bloodless.

“Mom?” Goku asked nervously, unable to see Gine’s face with her back to him. Without uttering a sound Gine’s body suddenly crumbled, falling out of view of the screen and landing on the floor with a dull sounding thump.

“Mom!” Goku jumped up, eyes wide, but unable to do anything. “Mom?! Can you hear me?!”

“What’s wrong with grandma?” Gohan asked, pulling at his daddy’s clothes and looking up at him with big frightened eyes.

Goku didn’t answer, but started calling for his father instead, hoping that Bardock would hear him from outside. “Dad! Mom fell! Can you hear me? DAD!”

Goku heard the sound of a door being slammed open, and within seconds Bardock appeared in view of the screen, cursing up a storm as he immediately kneeled next to his mate. “Gine, wake up, come on…” He coaxed, while lifting her carefully.

Goku watched, unable to breathe, as his father took his mother’s pulse and checked if she was still alive. “…Dad? Is she…” Goku croaked out, scarcely able to speak past the lump in his throat.

“She’s breathing, just passed out.” Bardock told him, eyes shuttered and expression pinched. “Damint. She told me she ate this morning.” He cursed lowly.

Goku took a step closer to the screen, hating that he couldn’t be there, that he couldn’t touch his parents or _help_. “Will she be okay?” He asked desperately.

Bardock closed his eyes. “I… I don’t know Kakarot. If things stays like this, then probably not. We hardly got anything out of our harvest this year. Things can’t stay like this for much longer.” He admitted, expression pained. Slowly he lifted his mate and placed her carefully on their dilapidated couch.

Goku felt like he had been punched in the gut. He had never seen his father make such an expression before. “…You’re right.” Goku said, finding his words slowly. “That’s why I’m going to change it.”

Bardock froze completely, and felt his heart skip several beats at hearing those exact words. ‘ _No, not this too.’_ Quickly he swirled around and faced his son. “Don’t even _think_ about going to Earth Kakarot.” Bardock growled. He had no idea what his son wanted to accomplish there, and had seen nothing suggesting that he would succeed, only that it would spell his death.

Goku’s eyes widened. “How did you—“

“That planet has a blue sky, doesn’t it?”

“Well yea,” Goku answered. “But I don’t see how that’s—“

“Then you _cannot_ go there. Do you understand me?!” Bardock demanded, looking his son directly in the eyes.

“But mom is—“

“I’ll take care of your mother.” Bardock interrupted. “You stay where you are. If you even think about running off, I’ll send Vegeta right after you.” Bardock hated pulling that card, but his son in law had already proven that he cared about Kakarot, so Bardock knew he had an ally in keeping his trouble seeking son safe.

Goku bristled and clenched his jaw. His father joining forces with Vegeta against him was just not _fair_. Goku might be able to run circles around one of them at a time, but he doubted that he could outsmart both.

A keening sob sounding from beside him snapped Goku out of his thoughts. He looked down and saw Gohan still sitting on the couch, fat tears running down his red blotched cheeks, eyes wide, scared, and focused on his daddy. “Wh-what wrong with gr-grandma?” He sobbed.

“Oh kiddo.” Goku said, quickly kneeling next to his crying son and pulling him into a hug, feeling a bit guilty to have momentarily forgotten about his presence. He wished Gohan hadn’t just seen that. “Grandma’s gonna be fine. She’s just… Tired. Grandpa will take care of her, okay? Don’t cry, shh…” Goku hushed him as he stroked the toddler’s hair.

“I have to tend to your mother, so we’ll talk later Kakarot.” Bardock said from behind Goku, still watching his son and crying grandchild. He hadn’t failed to notice that Kakarot hadn’t promised anything, and privately thought he better tell Vegeta to keep a closer eye on him for a while.

Goku didn’t manage to respond before his father ended the call. He kept consoling his son, but even while he babbled calming nonsense and petted Gohan’s hair, Goku’s shoulders were tense and his mind was running over a hundred miles an hour. He refused to sit tight and do nothing, no matter how much his father feared planets with blue skies.

“Sshh Gohan, grandma will be okay.” Goku would make sure of that. Slowly he pulled back and looked at his messy faced son. “Say, why don’t we go on a little trip? Then we can tell grandma about it when she wakes up, and I’m sure she’ll be really happy.”

Another couple of tears leaked from Gohan’s still glassy eyes, and he sniffled loudly, snot dripping from his nose. “A t-trip?” He hiccupped.

Goku smiled slowly, knowing he had caught his son’s interest. “Yes. Just a small one. It’ll be our little secret.”

Gohan seemed to think about it, then slowly he looked back at his daddy and nodded. Goku rubbed Gohan’s small shoulders with a grin to hide his nerves.

Time to test his bounds.

 

xXx

 

The exact time came three days later; Goku too restless and agitated to wait longer or come up with a better plan. It had been rushed, but when he woke up this morning, Goku hadn’t been able to stop himself, and so far, it seemed to be actually working out.

Planet Zelua was pretty close to planet Vegeta, only five solar systems over. The planet had briefly been under Frieza’s control after his failed destruction of the saiyans’ home world, but had been retaken by the Coalition about ten years ago, and was still technically under their protection, even if it didn’t get much attention. Despite selling their produce off world, the population on the planet still lived very low-tech lives most places, and looking around at the landscape where they landed, Goku was reminded of the farmlands bordering Mount Paozu back on Earth. The clay huts with straw roofs, the grazing flocks of cattle and idyllic atmosphere really took him back. There even seemed to be something like rice field terraces, with narrow earth roads winding in between them, going up the mountain sides of the large valley. If not for the purple-ish sky and the hamster like local farmers, Goku could almost have mistaken it for Earth.

Goku pulled his hood more firmly over his head and adjusted Gohan on his hip as a couple of elderly locals shuffled past them, their whiskers quivering in curiosity as they eyed their strange visitors. Gohan was silent, taking in everything with big eyes and a thumb in his mouth, tail curled firmly around his daddy’s wrist. Goku carefully unwrapped the appendage. “Keep your tail hidden Gohan. Remember what we talked about? It’s best if no one knows we’re saiyans.”

‘Stealing’ a ship hadn’t been that hard actually. Thanks to his varied education, Goku knew which vessels were used for supply trips by now, and had chosen one that already had a locked destination. Knocking out the original pilot and positioning him in a common area so it looked like he was taking a nap had probably been the most difficult part to do without being recognized, but luckily most of the dock workers on Base One were aliens, and not particularly well versed in telling saiyans apart or aware or what the prince consort even looked like. Even so Goku had felt his heart pound wildly as he had taken off from Base One, half convinced that he’d be caught and stopped at any moment.

Now they were here, several hours away, and it didn’t look like anyone had followed them or realized their disappearance yet. Goku had brought his scouter, just in case he ended up needing it, but was keeping it shut off and in the shoulder bag he had gotten back on Gultark so he couldn’t be tracked with it. His and Gohan’s clothes consisted of bright tunics and dark brown hooded robes, and Goku thought that all in all they probably succeeded in looking like alien tourists quite well.

“According to the ship’s computer there should be a small town up past those hills.” Goku pointed. “Are you ready to go see?” He asked his son, bouncing the boy lightly.

Gohan gripped more firmly unto his mother’s robe and cuddled closer. “It’s so _big_.” He whispered with a mix of fear and awe, eyes practically rolling around in their sockets to take everything in. Goku smiled sadly. It was no wonder Gohan thought that; the biggest natural area he had ever been in had probably been the different nature rooms back on base, and they hardly compared to the real thing. He wasn’t used to having this much space around him.

“Let’s go.” Goku said, letting Gohan come out of shell at his own pace.

Despite walking instead of flying, it didn’t take Goku long to reach the outskirts of the town, where the main road leading towards the town center was lined with market stalls and small shops on both sides. Most places were selling different kinds of produce. Vegetables, herbs, fish, meat, freshly baked bread, brightly woven cloths, jewelry… Everything imaginable, aside from technology. It was like a booming farmers market and pretty full of people. The air was heavy with the smell of cooking food and the shouts from vendors. The sun baked down on the dusty earthen road, and flies buzzed around unattended cooking as soon as people turned their backs. Goku and his son weren’t the only aliens there, but they still drew some attention with Goku’s height towering over the local population, and probably because people couldn’t immediately tell their species thanks to the robes.

“Are you hungry Gohan?” Goku asked, eyeing a place that was selling candied fruits. Goku himself was starving already despite eating a big breakfast, and he had to struggle to not let his own tail lash around in agitation, instead keeping it firmly wrapped around his waist. He didn’t know why he felt this tense, but Goku hoped that more food would help. He had brought some standard galactic currency; his own in fact. Goku tended to forget because he was royalty and literally never lacked anything in his day to day life that wasn’t supplied for him, but he did still technically earn a wage. He had never touched it before though, simply letting it grow as the years went by.

Gohan made a tiny sound of agreement, but didn’t lift his head from Goku’s shoulder, now both overwhelmed and shy thanks to all the people. Goku let him cuddle close and walked over to the stall, eager to try some of their wares.

“Hey there, how much for—Uh, this?” Goku pointed at something that he couldn’t immediately recognize, but looked and smelled good.

“Welcome, welcome.” A small zeluan woman told him. She was about the height of a six year old child, and looked adorable; like a small hamster decked out in a bright flower patterned dress and colorful frilly apron.

“My, ye’re certainly not from around here mister.” She said, eying Goku with big cherry red eyes. “Are ye a dengalian? But no, the skin color is wrong… Say, ya couldn’t be a saiyan, could’ya?”

Goku chuckled nervously and scratched his hair through his hood. “Is it that obvious? I thought I was hiding it pretty well.”

The zeluan laughed. “Well we’re used to yer kind coming ‘round here; no reason to hide it honey. Besides, _ye_ might pass as something else for a second, but those dark eyes yer little one has are distinctly saiyan.”

Gohan, who had been watching the zeluan curiously until then, meeped and hid his face against daddy’s shoulder. Goku patted his back with a chuckle. “He gets them from his father, and if there’s anyone who looks saiyan it’s Veg—Uh, my mate.” Goku fumbled, but managed to cut himself off in time. While people might not recognize Goku on sight, they were at least aware of the saiyan crown prince’s name, and would be able to make the connection.

It was probably best not to get recognized. Vegeta was already bound to flip his lid and come hunting for him as soon as he noticed Goku was gone; there was no reason to make it worse. Though for some reason, the thought of Vegeta hunting him down despite how far Goku had run… It sent a thrill through Goku that felt almost like excitement.

“Well I won’t ask why ye’re trying ta hide, ‘cause it’s rude, but I’ll admit I’m awfully curious.” The zeluan told him, still asking but in a more polite and roundabout way, and inadvertently bringing Goku out of the small daze he had fallen into after thinking of Vegeta.

“Ahh, I’m just going on a little excursion. Ve—My mate and father don’t think I should be going outside the base, but Go—My cub just turned three, and I thought it be a nice experience for him.” Well, in reality Goku wanted to check how long it would take for people to notice he was gone and retrieve him, and how they did it, so he’d be able to work around it later. This was just a trial run for a longer trip he was planning to take after all. He hadn’t planned to test it out so soon but, oh well.

“Yer from Base One then, an elite?” The zeluan eyed him shrewdly, quickly putting one and two together. “What did ya say yer cub’s name was?”

“I didn’t.” Goku responded, mild but firm.  

“I get it I get it.” The woman chuckled as she handed him a bag of candied fruit. “I shouldn’t stick my nose in. Keep yer secrets mister, but I’d advise ya to stay away from the taverns. Unsavory types that way, they’d go after an important person like ye in no time.”  

“They can try.” Goku said self-confidently. He was long since back in shape after his pregnancy, and felt stronger than ever.

“I suppose ye have room to be sure of yourself.” The woman chuckled. “Try the braised ribs over there while ye’re here. Nice day to ya, …prince.” She added with a wink as she waved goodbye.

Goku bit his cheek and cursed mentally, but didn’t respond aside from nodding politely. He walked over to the recommended food stall, annoyed to have been so easily seen through. Just by implying where he was from he had managed to out himself. Well, it was probably no wonder really. There weren’t exactly a lot of saiyan children around on the outside, only a handful or so, and only one of them had a male beta for a parent. Goku closed his eyes and groaned. Looking at it from that perspective it was terribly obvious who he was.

“Daddy? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Gohan.” Goku sighed. “Say, do you wanna take your hood off? It’s pretty hot out here.” And if a common food vender could see through them within five sentences, then the disguises were obviously serving no purpose other than making them sweat.

Gohan agreed, and once both he and Goku had disrobed, the boy actually felt up to walking and exploring a bit on his own. Goku linked their tails together to keep Gohan from toddling off too far; it was a pretty handy way to keep track of him, and one both he and other saiyan parents used. You only allowed family members or children to touch your tail, the appendage too sensitive to trust a stranger with. Goku had found that out the awkward way after almost doing it to Dilla once, though luckily his friend had been willing to laugh it off.  

They bought more food, some drinks, and finally took a small stroll through the hills, pleasant fresh wind blowing on their faces. But after two hours, Goku caught the telltale roar of a battle cruiser smashing through the atmosphere and making straight for them. Goku held Gohan in his arms and watched from the top of a hill as the giant ship touched down on a clover field in the distance. He closed his eyes to try and gather himself, even as he felt his blood roar in anticipation. Vegeta had found him, so it was time to face the music.

xXx

Coming back from work to find his mate and son missing from their quarters wasn’t super unusual, since they both preferred spending time in the nature rooms, the baths or the training areas, but Vegeta could always pinpoint their location by searching for their ki. So when he closed his eyes and concentrated, only for absolutely nothing to show up, he suffered a minor heart-attack.

Vegeta’s first thought was that they were both lying dead somewhere on base, done in by poison from an assassin, or drugged and kidnapped. Something nefarious that Kakarot wouldn’t have been prepared to defend against. Vegeta should never have allowed his mate to walk around unguarded, if something had happened to him—! For a moment the world seemed to spin out of axis, the room growing dizzy before his eyes. Shakily Vegeta forced himself to draw in a deep breath, knowing that he had to calm down and _think_.

Kakarot was a strong fighter, and he had excellent ki control. If something had happened to him it would have needed to be instantaneous, or he would have managed to spike his energy enough for Vegeta to notice and come help. That wasn’t exactly a comforting thought, but Vegeta knew how unlikely it was for an assassin strong enough to make it into the base.   

Knowing that going in circles and panicking wouldn’t help, Vegeta forced himself to shut down his emotional responses and act instead. As soon as he could breathe again, Vegeta alerted security and told them to search _everywhere_. For the next half hour, the entire base was made to buss like a bee cube that had been set on fire. It was the longest thirty minutes of Vegeta’s life.

Then finally a pilot was found knocked out in a common area, and after rousing him, it didn’t take long to realize his ship was missing. After that it was only a matter of checking security footage.

Vegeta stared at the screen showing the hanger from that morning with sharp eyes, holding his breath until Kakarot finally appeared with Gohan in his arms. At the sight of his mate and child, both alive, Vegeta felt the lid he had placed on his emotional turmoil come undone; his knees went weak and he slumped down into a chair to keep from falling.

Kakarot was alive. Vegeta repeated this to himself a number of times before his hands finally stopped trembling and the panic he had felt slowly gave way to something else… Kakarot might be alive, but what the hell did the idiot think he was _doing_?!

Vegeta glared at the security footage showing his mate and son boarding a small vessel and setting off; seemingly under no duress. If this was another one of his consort’s harebrained schemes born of boredom, then Vegeta swore he’d murder the younger man himself.

But then another unsettling possibility occurred to him. What if Kakarot had never truly forgiven Vegeta for kidnapping him all those years ago, and now he was finally running away? What if this was it? The beta could have just been biding his time and now he was taking their child and leaving and why? What had Vegeta done to deserve _that_?!

Vegeta managed to snap himself out of it pretty quickly though. If Kakarot had truly been entertaining thoughts of escape for so long, then not only would he be a much better actor than Vegeta gave him credit for, he’d also have had a lot of other chances to do it; better chances than taking a ship that only had enough fuel to get him to Zelua and back. No, this was something else.

But why had Kakarot suddenly decided to become a flight risk after all this time? It didn’t make sense. Three years ago sure, back then Vegeta wouldn’t have put it past him, but Kakarot had matured quite a bit since then and was no longer just as prone to acting without thinking.

Vegeta didn’t find an answer even as he ordered his elite force to ready for departure, and he still hadn’t found it by the time they left Base One behind. He continued ruminating over the mystery as he sat tensely in a ship headed for Zelua, only a couple of hours behind his wayward mate, but could still think of no reason. Not that it mattered. It would take him no time to find Kakarot and have the beta explain himself.

…Assuming Kakarot was still unharmed. Even this close to their main base there were still mercenaries around, and Kakarot was so horribly naïve and trusting sometimes. There was no end to the people who would pay exorbitant sums for a saiyan cub or a male beta, but there were people who would _kill_ to get their hands on Vegeta’s mate or child. Some for revenge, some for political reasons and some… To hand them over to Frieza.

Out of those possibilities, the last was easily Vegeta’s worst nightmare. While Vegeta knew that he would have to defeat Frieza sooner rather than later, and despite Kakarot’s assumption that he’d be a part of it, Vegeta had no intentions to ever allow Kakarot anywhere near the dictator. The mere thought of his mate or child within Frieza’s clutches was enough to chill Vegeta to the core. Frieza wasn’t used to being outsmarted, and the fact that Vegeta had managed to do so for years had enraged him to a truly terrifying degree. Never mind what the pirate lord wanted to do to him, but Vegeta had no delusions of what Frieza would do to Kakarot and Gohan in revenge if given half the chance.       

The thoughts did nothing to calm him down, and as soon as they entered the atmosphere of Zelua Vegeta locked on to the ki of his wayward mate and son; his breath leaving him in a rush as he felt the steadiness of Kakarot’s energy and the way Gohan’s fluctuated in curiosity. They were both safe and unharmed.

Finally assured of this, Vegeta clenched his jaw and fists and felt hot bubbling rage slowly rise up in him, replacing the frantic worry.

Kakarot had better have some good answers, or Vegeta would make him regret it.

xXx

As soon as the ship came to a stop, Goku sat his son down and stroked his hair. Gohan looked up at him with a confused expression, not understanding why he was being let go. “Daddy?”

“Why don’t you go explore the flower patch over there?” Goku suggested, nodding in the direction of an idyllic looking area at the bottom of the hill full of bright colored plants and shiny buzzing insects.

“But—“ Gohan cast a glance in the direction of his father, having also felt his ki by now.

“Papa and I have to talk.” Goku explained hurriedly, feeling how Vegeta had already exited the ship and was drawing near fast. “You’ll probably have to go back to the ship with the guards as soon as he gets here. Don’t you want a moment to look?” Truthfully Goku just didn’t want Gohan to see or overhear his ‘talk’ with Vegeta. It was bound to get nasty.

Gohan seemed to deliberate for a moment, torn between exploring something unknown and greeting his father. Finally the bright flowers and insects won out though, and with a small smile he started running, then tumbling, down the hill, only to roll to a stop in the soft grass with a pearling laugh.

Goku smiled at his son’s antics, and watched him with a small amount of satisfaction even as he waited for Vegeta. At least he’d given Gohan a memorable experience.

Goku turned away from the sight of his son when he heard and felt Vegeta land behind him. Goku faced his mate slowly, his heart already pounding in his chest, but strangely enough it wasn’t from nerves. Vegeta looked absolutely livid. His eyes were burning, his mouth set in a snarl and his fists clenching and unclenching as they did when he was struggling to keep himself back from attacking.

“ _Kakarot_.”

Vegeta’s voice was a growl, and Goku felt his breath hitch at the sound of it. The sight of Vegeta, so furious and glaring at him like that, made Goku almost dizzy from excitement. How long had it been since Vegeta had been anything but gentle? Even when they trained, the alpha rarely used his most lethal attacks or techniques, and no matter how hard he pushed, Goku just didn’t seem to be able to break his mate’s composure or unwillingness to lay into him. But _now_ … Right now Vegeta looked almost like he had when they had first met, just as angry and proud and willing to _hurt_. Except now the prince was even stronger than back then. Goku felt entranced by the sight, and before he had quite made the conscious decision to, he fell into a battle stance.

This seemed to throw Vegeta for a moment before his eyes narrowed again and his energy blazed hotter. “What, you don’t even have anything to say for yourself? No explanations, no excuses?” Vegeta asked, voice deep as he took a step forwards.

Goku licked his lips as he eyed the way Vegeta’s muscles bulged; the prince tense and ready for attack even if he kept a veneer of talking for now. Goku hadn’t come up with an excuse yet. That was the most glaring hole in his plan, and he had known it, but he just hadn’t been able to wait.

“Say something Kakarot!” Vegeta suddenly roared, his patience shot.

“Fight me.”

It took Goku a moment to realize that he had been the one to speak those words. Meanwhile Vegeta stared, mouth still pulled into a snarl but eyes wide and disbelieving. “Fight you? What the hell are you on?” Vegeta demanded, losing some of his anger as he looked Goku over for injuries or… Anything to explain this.

Goku opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, unable to say where the desire had suddenly come from, but then decided to shrug it off. It wasn’t important right now, and besides, it would serve a dual purpose. Firstly it would give him more time to come up with an excuse, and secondly… Well, he had wanted to have a proper fight with Vegeta for years, was practically spoiling for it in fact, so why not? Gohan had already been taken back to the ship by the guards, so there was nothing holding them back.

Unfortunately Vegeta didn’t look as convinced, and the prince was even slowly letting go of his aggression, eyes turning less glaring and more concerned as Goku continued to face him in silence. Goku couldn’t have that. “What’s the matter Vegeta?” Goku asked, his voice coming out cajoling and almost mean. Wrong and twisted somehow. He couldn’t seem to stop though. “Are you still hiding behind excuses not to fight me? I’m not sick, I’m not recovering and I’m not pregnant, in fact I feel stronger than ever!”

Goku motioned to himself with a broad sweep of a hand, a nasty smirk stretching his lips. “So what’s your excuse exactly? Or are you finally ready to admit that you’re scared because I’m stronger?”

As callous as his words were, they served their purpose. Vegeta’s ki exploded out of him with a roar from the alpha, and within seconds he was at Goku’s throat.

Goku couldn’t stop grinning even as he jumped out of reach, quickly spinning for an attack and almost catching Vegeta across the face. Yes, this was what he wanted, battle, blood, sweat. “Fight me alpha!” He taunted, and launched another attack.

Vegeta gritted his teeth as he batted another vicious energy attack away. Either his mate had gone insane or… No, Vegeta had no other explanation right now. Kakarot was acting like a lunatic. Running away, starting a fight, behaving completely irrationally, meanly and with so much unexplained aggression— Oh.

Vegeta almost earned himself a broken nose with the pause the realization had caused, and quickly back flipped to make some distance between them. He was starting to see what was happening here, but unfortunately Kakarot wouldn’t be in the mood to calm down and listen to him, and the younger man didn’t seem aware of the problem himself. This didn’t surprise Vegeta overly much; Kakarot had only experienced a grand total of two ‘normal’ heats before mating, and probably hadn’t been paying attention to or recognized the signs. 

Vegeta groaned in frustration, but scolded himself for not paying better attention before. Gohan was already three; the time for Kakarot having peaceful heats was over. It would seem like the beta was getting back into the swing of things, and this time by testing just how far he could get before Vegeta managed to hunt him down. 

It wasn’t an unusual game for a beta to play to test their mate, but still… “Running all the way to another planet? _Really_ , Kakarot?” Vegeta asked his still battle drunk and grinning consort, but didn’t expect much of an answer. Dumb and impulsive as it might be, his mate certainly didn’t do anything by half.

At this point, there was only one way to end this. Feeling less rattled now that he had a probable explanation, Vegeta took a proper stance and powered up with a smirk. “I guess it’s time I bring you out of your delusions of being the stronger one. You’re not the only one who’s been training!”

Vegeta’s declaration made Goku stop charging his next attack for a moment, and he watched with interest as Vegeta powered up, the earth cracking and rocks floating around the prince from sheer power. Goku was forced to take a step back from the force of Vegeta’s ki, but even so he kept his eyes open as he stared raptly at Vegeta’s blazing figure. “You… When did you get this strong?” Goku asked, caught between awe and… Insult. “You’ve never used this power in our spars!” Goku yelled accusingly, annoyed to have been kept in the dark.

Vegeta finally stopped raising his energy, even though the air around him continued to simmer with raw power. “I told you years ago Kakarot.” Vegeta said. “That you shouldn’t expect to be the strongest for long.” He smirked then. “Yet somehow you still grew complacent with your training. It’s not _my_ fault that I put in more effort than you.”

Goku gaped at him, cheeks flushing from a mix of anger and embarrassment. It was true that Goku hadn’t trained as much as he had used to in the past… But there had been so many other things taking up his time! Firstly his son, who needed training too, and then lessons and work and… Just when had been the last time he tried to push himself beyond his limits? Goku realized with some horror that he couldn’t remember. Meanwhile Goku knew that Vegeta had put himself through the wringer, both on missions and even on base. In fact Goku had been informed of his mate spending time in the healing tanks enough times to make it an almost common occurrence. It just hadn’t really computed for him. Goku hadn’t made the obvious connection between Vegeta’s efforts and the effects they would have before, and now the results were staring him in the face.

“What’s wrong Kakarot?” Vegeta taunted. “Weren’t you going to fight me?”

Goku looked at Vegeta with new eyes, his heart beating faster and faster. His entire body was trembling, but it wasn’t from anger or fear. Slowly a deliriously happy smile spread on his face. “You’re damn right I am!” Goku yelled with a grin, his heart leaping. Vegeta had pushed himself to the very limits for years just to catch up to Goku and then surpass him. It was time for Goku to return the effort.

With a yell Goku powered up, feeling his blood rush at the sensation, until he reached the very highest point of his powers. Then he faced Vegeta again and locked eyes with him as their energies battered against each other. “I won’t hold back on you. And I won’t forgive you if you don’t do the same.”

Vegeta watched him with dark eyes, but a small smirk still pulled on his lips. He should have known that Kakarot wouldn’t be angry about being surpassed; if anything it was bound to motivate the younger man to reach new and even crazier heights. Frustrating as it could be at times, it was also one of Vegeta’s favorite things about his mate: Kakarot would never be satisfied with his power, would never stop trying to grow, and as such he pushed Vegeta to constantly better himself too. If Vegeta hadn’t still been pissed at him at the moment, he might even have told Kakarot as much. “Let me see you struggle then.” Vegeta taunted. “I’ll be sure to enjoy it.”

Goku grinned, and seconds later, the two saiyans clashed in the sky, making the heavens crack with a thunderous sound. True to his words, Goku didn’t hold anything back. He railed against Vegeta, doing everything in his power to bring the older man down.

Vegeta for his part couldn’t afford to hold back either. Even if Goku hadn’t pushed himself the last couple of years, he had still stayed in good shape, and his battle experience and sheer natural ability when it came to fighting was nothing to scoff at. One clear advantage Vegeta had over his mate right now though was that he was clearheaded while Goku was running on a mix of aggression, excitement and hormones.

But as Vegeta dodged another attack that left Goku suspiciously open, he realized that it wasn’t the only one. Deciding to test his theory, Vegeta spun into a vicious roundhouse kick aimed at Goku’s stomach which, true enough, Goku blocked instead of dodging and was sent hurtling through the air for it. Vegeta followed him downwards, even as his mind worked quickly over the connotations. Much as Goku had demanded Vegeta not hold back, Vegeta realized that the beta didn’t truly expect Vegeta to hurt him.

That… May partly be Vegeta’s fault for the way he had pulled his punches during their spars up to this point, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t use it to his advantage.

Goku smashed into the ground, creating a saiyan shaped crater, but instead of getting a moment to catch his breath, Goku opened his eyes to the sight of a giant energy shot hurtling towards him from above. With a startled yell Goku pulled himself free and narrowly managed to roll into a dodge. The energy attack hit the ground where Goku had just been, exploding dirt and rocks in every direction. After the dust settled Goku stared at the destruction with wide eyes before slowly following the smoke trail up to his grinning mate who was still hanging above him in the sky.

“What’s the matter Kakarot, can’t take the heat?” Vegeta asked, one eyebrow lifted mockingly.

“I…” Goku started, only to trail off, disturbed to have been caught by surprise by the attack. Why _had_ he been so surprised? Of course Vegeta would be using energy attacks. It was one of the prince’s signature moves. It was true that they didn’t use them in their usual spars on base, but… Had Goku really grown so complacent?

Slowly he got to his feet, thoughts whirling. Ever since Gohan… No, even before then. When they had mated? …No, actually it went all the way back to when they had started courting. Ever since then, Vegeta had not truly aimed to hurt him, not even once. And over time, that had become Goku’s truth and constant: Food was tasty, baths were nice and Vegeta would never hurt him. It had become an unshakable fact in his mind.

But it hadn’t always been like that, Goku reminded himself as he watched the grinning prince in the air above him. Their current positions were almost reminiscent of the way they had stood when they first met; Vegeta leering down at him from above while Goku stared at him with wide eyes, feet firmly planted in the sand of master Roshi’s island. Vegeta hadn’t pulled any punches back then, and later too he had almost killed Goku in a fit of rage; only Raditz’ interference saving Goku’s life.

Goku clenched his fists and brought that remembered pain and frustration to the forefront of his mind. If they were going to fight seriously, then Goku couldn’t afford to see Vegeta as his mate; the man who kissed him deeply, touched him gently and had held him through both pain and fear as Goku birthed their son. Right now Vegeta was his opponent, and unlike Goku, the older saiyan was perfectly capable of separating those two existences.

With a new resolution, Goku raised himself into the air too, until he was facing Vegeta again. “…I guess I was the one not being serious. Sorry about that, it won’t happen again.”

Vegeta didn’t even get a second to respond before Goku was on him once more, and this time Goku wasn’t leaving any openings.

Their battle quickly grew fierce, and more and more dirty. Thunder and lightning split the heavens as they crashed, and wounds were opened, blood splattering the ground.

In the distance the inhabitants of the planet watched in terror as the two god-like beings raged in the skies. The earth was rumbling, and hurricanes of wind were tearing the landscape apart while lightning flashed. It seemed like the end of the world.

It was near impossible to tell time and that sort of situation, but it was over an hour later when the thunderous booms suddenly stopped and several minutes longer before the skies slowly started clearing and the Zeluans realized that their planet wouldn’t be blown up that day after all.

Meanwhile, far away from the village, at the foot of a once lush and now broken and smoking mountain side, Goku was slowly coming to.

He didn’t even remember being knocked out. As he blinked his eyes open and squinted against the light, Goku was already taking stock of his injuries, trying to muster some will to stand back up despite the pain radiating from everywhere. It proved a futile effort, and before he could do anything else, the slowly reappearing sunlight was blotted out by Vegeta leaning over him.

The alpha watched him with dark eyes, backlit by the sun and his face cast in shadows, as he slowly wrapped a hand around Goku’s throat. Goku didn’t even bother waiting for the command to surrender, and just tilted his head obligingly.

Vegeta’s hand stopped tightening, and the prince sounded vaguely surprised when he spoke despite aggression and battle lust still tinting his voice. “Just like that?” He asked.

“Just like that.” Goku responded, and then coughed, trying to dislodge smoke and other particles from his abused lungs. He had gotten what he wanted; a full blown no holds barred fight against Vegeta, and even though he hadn’t come out on top, he surprisingly didn’t feel particularly upset about it. In fact a strange satisfied calm had started spreading throughout his battered body and clouding his head, and once he was finally done coughing, he faced Vegeta again, a confused frown marring his face. “Vegeta, I—I’m…”

“Shh.” Vegeta hushed him, hand rubbing Goku’s still tense back. “I know.” The adrenaline from battle was still coursing through the both of them, but it wasn’t fighting that was on their minds anymore.

In fact, as Goku gazed into Vegeta’s eyes and drew in his scent, he quickly realized that they were both experiencing the same desire. With a sudden surge of strength and energy, Goku reached up and pulled Vegeta closer to himself by his shoulders. “Alpha…” He purred into Vegeta’s sweaty and blood steaked neck, no longer minding his position of being pinned under the other man.

Vegeta rumbled back, already licking Goku’s mating bite and lightly worrying at the skin with his teeth, at this point so caught up in the scent of blood, sweat and pheromones surrounding them that he was completely forgetting why doing this might not be such a great idea.

Being both on the same track, and minds still clouded from their battle and other things, it didn’t take long for the rest of their pitiful scraps of clothing to be ripped off and thrown away.

Goku’s body was covered in bruises and bleeding welts, and so was Vegeta’s, but he still arched his back with a guttural moan as Vegeta lifted his hips and pressed inside him in one smooth thrust. They panted and clutched at each other, their pace growing wilder and rougher until they were practically crumbling the mountainside once again. Despite the roughness, the aggression was gone, and Goku willingly surrendered to the pleasant fog in his head, knowing that he was back to being completely safe in Vegeta’s arms.

They got lost in their own instincts, and each other, and by the time one of them started regaining his senses, they had gone several rounds and night had already fallen.

Vegeta was the one who felt his head clear as chilly night wind blew across his naked back. Slowly he blinked open his eyes, feeling how his mate’s warm body was still shielded underneath him, Kakarot’s breathing coming out evenly in his sleep, if slightly faster than normal. Vegeta spent a couple of minutes listening to his mate’s steady if fast paced heartbeat as he slowly regained his bearings, until he finally woke up enough to realize what had happened. “Fuck.”

Gritting his teeth against the soreness and in some places down right pain, Vegeta struggled to lift himself up to his elbows and looked down on the still obliviously sleeping Kakarot, before taking in the destroyed and still smoking landscape. He cursed again. This was _not_ how he had planned for their fight to end, even though he had enjoyed it greatly at the time. Groaning like an old man, Vegeta flipped himself over and then slowly sat up. One of his thigh bones seemed to be fractured, he felt nauseous and dizzy enough that it spoke of a small concussion and his ribs were bruised. Aside from various bleeding scratches, welts, burn marks and bruises, he now also had long vicious marks from Kakarot’s claws running up, down and across his back. Vegeta rubbed his face, then pulled back with a hiss when he discovered that his nose was broken too.   

When he glared almost accusingly back at his still unconscious mate, Vegeta saw that he was in no better condition, and realized that instinct had really done a number on them both. “Kakarot, wake up.” Vegeta reached over and shook Goku’s shoulder as gently as he could, mindful of the younger man’s injuries. Goku had several new set of teeth marks littering his neck too, some still bleeding.

With a groan Goku slowly opened his eyes. “’G-Geta?” He coughed and rolled to his side, only to hiss in pain. “What _happened_?” He asked, eyes squeezed shut and head spinning.

Vegeta watched him for a moment, then turned back to the destroyed landscape. “You went into heat, ran away, tempted me into a fight and… Well, it ended like most heat fights tend to do.” Vegeta motioned at the destruction surrounding them and their own battered bodies.

Goku watched him through one narrow eye, realizing slowly that yes, Vegeta was telling the truth. “I didn’t realize…” He mumbled haltingly. He had been thinking of his mother and of all the people on their planet slowly starving, not on how his body felt. But seeing as Vegeta had handed him an excuse for running away on a silver platter, Goku was more than willing to take it.

Finding the ground but cold and uncomfortable, Goku slowly tried to sit up. A sharp zing of pain traveling through his body made him give up on the endeavor though, and Goku laid back down and stared up at the night sky. “Why does it hurt so bad?” Goku whined. “It didn’t hurt when we were…” He trailed off, slowly realizing the potential consequences of what they had been doing.

“Fucking?” Vegeta finished for him with a snort. “No, endorphins will do that.”

“…I’m not on birth control.” Goku stated, eyes wide enough to reflect the stars. “Vegeta I’m not—“

“I figured.” Vegeta broke him off before he could enter a spiral. “And your heat’s not done yet. We’ll figure it out.”

Goku bit his lip, and discovered that it had been split. With tumultuous feelings swirling in his chest, he slowly licked away the fresh blood. “…What now?” He asked.

“Now we go back to base, reassure my generals that you haven’t in fact turned traitor, and deal with the rest of your heat.” Vegeta said, then turned to fix Goku with his black eyes, showing the younger man the anger still burning there. “And then you swear to me that, heat or not, you will _never_ pull another stunt like this.” He growled. “I don’t care if your instincts tell you to test me by running. If you ever do something so harebrained again, I will lock you up on base and never let you out again until the day Frieza is dead and we can go back to our planet.”

Goku had been feeling guilty during the first part of Vegeta’s speech, but when the prince mentioned locking him up, any remorse he had felt quickly fled. “Oh will you?” Goku asked darkly, suddenly fed up. While part of the annoyance he felt could be put down to being in heat, their fight had made him look back at the last almost four years in a different light. It had made Goku realize just how much he had allowed himself to sink into the exact sort of life he had dreaded beforehand.  “And tell me, how is that any different from what you’re already doing?”

Vegeta glared harder at Goku’s accusation, growing angrier by the second. They were out in the open, way too exposed, already injured, and now instead of shutting up and hauling ass back to their ship, Goku wanted to have an argument? Fine. “You think I’m restricting you?” Vegeta hissed. “You have no idea how miserable I could make your life if I chose to. As it is you still get to leave for dignitary missions, you still join me on missions too, you can even move however and wherever you wish to on Base unrestricted. All that…” Vegeta lifted his hand. “Can be gone, just like that.” He snapped his fingers.

Goku watched him in shock, startled hurt swirling in his chest, not truly believing what he was hearing. He had expected Vegeta to reassure him, not… “Are you threatening me?”

“I’m telling you what I’ll do to protect you from yourself, since you’re clearly not to be trusted on your own.” Vegeta responded, completely serious.

Goku stared at him disbelievingly with wide eyes, throat bobbing as he swallowed heavily. Then slowly his expression gave way to anger instead of hurt. “What the hell Vegeta?! How could you _ever_ think I’d want to live like that?!” Goku struggled unto his knees, ignoring his pain, refusing to stay lying down while this happened. “You might be my mate, but you don’t control my life!”

Vegeta bared his teeth at him, unamused by Goku’s notions of independence. “If you really think that then heat has made you more delusional than I thought. I’m not just your mate, I’m your _prince_. If I decide to lock you up and throw away the key, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You—“ Goku stuttered, so shocked to have this thrown in his face that he couldn’t find any words. He had known Vegeta would be angry that he snuck off, had expected him to yell and rail at him for a while, but never this. All this time living together, raising Gohan together, training together, all this time he had thought— “I thought we were equals.” Goku said, voice suddenly small. Again he waited for Vegeta to reassure him, to tell him that he was just misunderstanding, but…

Vegeta was too angry to hear Goku’s inflection, too caught up in self-righteous fury and protective alpha instinct to realize what he was breaking. “You belong to me first and foremost. I’m stronger than you; an elite! Everything you have right now is because I gave it to you. I’m not letting you compromise yourself or our son just because you have notions of independence and of being a warrior.”

Goku felt his heart still in his chest. “Notions of being a warrior?...” He repeated in a whisper. That couldn’t be— Vegeta couldn’t be serious, could he? The only thing Goku had ever wanted from Vegeta, aside from his caring, had been his respect. If he didn’t have that, then what had he been doing all this time? Unwillingly Goku felt tears spring to his eyes and threaten to overflow.

Finally, when he caught the scent of tears, Vegeta’s head stopped clouding from anger and he looked at Goku, really looked at him, and saw that his careless words had done something his fists would have never managed. Vegeta’s eyes widened. “Kakarot I didn’t mean—“

Goku sprang up despite his injuries and stumbled back, shaking his head as tears finally marred his cheeks. “Turles was right about you.” He spat. The words spilled from his lips suddenly and before he could stop them, but he did nothing to try and take them back. Goku laughed brokenly, turning away from Vegeta who looked like he’d just been shot. “I’m such a fucking idiot, aren’t I?” He asked, voice breaking.

People had told him that Vegeta didn’t truly respect him time and time again, and Goku had been too stubborn to listen. He knew Vegeta _cared_ , and had assumed from that, but… It really wasn’t the same thing at all, was it? How had he not seen that before?

It was easy to care for a pet without respecting it.  

Vegeta got up too and took a step towards his crying and cursing mate, hand outstretched. A feeling of dread was starting to build up in in the pit of his belly, and he realized that he had to fix this quickly before it could run out of control. “You’re over-reacting. I was just speaking in anger Kakarot, I didn’t mean—“

“You did.” Goku said, voice strangely flat now. The eerie calm was enough to bring Vegeta to a stop, and he watched Goku carefully, but the younger man still refused to look at Vegeta, his blank eyes focused on nothing instead. “You really had me there, Vegeta. I really thought you respected me.” Goku closed his eyes briefly and drew a deep rattling breath. “Don’t worry, I won’t make that mistake again.”

With those words Goku gathered the last of his flagging strength and blasted off, leaving a stunned Vegeta in the dust.

Vegeta stared after his mate as he quickly disappeared in the darkness, his ki hard to follow thanks to its instability. Goku was still in second stage heat, still vulnerable and in need of Vegeta’s presence. On top of that he was injured and they were on an alien planet with only a handful of troops and no means to find him if Goku decided to hide his ki and disappear.

With growing dread Vegeta realized what he had done.

He had broken Goku’s trust.

Vegeta knew from himself that such a thing was not easily regained; that it could in fact be irreparable. He really hadn’t meant what he said either. He just wanted his mate to be safe; something Vegeta had never had the luxury of being himself. Of course Goku was a warrior to be reckoned with, but before that he was the person that Vegeta l—

He was important.

Vegeta cursed himself and his own carelessness, then shot off after his mate. “Kakarot, wait!” He yelled, despite knowing that the beta wouldn’t stop even if he could hear him.

Vegeta had to fix this, fast, before Goku cold get himself injured. Second stage heat was not meant to be faced alone, for multiple reasons.

He could only hope that he managed to catch up before Goku decided to disappear.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, Vegeta’s foot in mouth syndrome made a reappearance. 
> 
> You know that feel when you realize you severely overestimated how quickly you could tie together plot points and wrap them up? That's me right now. Fml.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somehow 'I won't say I'm in love' from Hercules starts playing in the background.

Goku didn’t disappear. Vegeta found him back at the ship, already dressed in a loose robe and ready to enter a healing tank. The guards were staying clear, wise enough to stay away from a mated beta in second stage heat.

Vegeta stalked through the med-bay and grabbed Goku’s arm in a loose hold before he could climb inside. “You didn’t run.” Vegeta stated from sheer relief, causing Goku to slowly turn his head and look at him. The deadness of his eyes unnerved Vegeta, and his relief quickly fled.

“Of course. Gohan is still here.” Goku stated blankly, as if Vegeta was an idiot for thinking he would leave his own child.

Vegeta admitted to himself that he probably was, but brushed it off for now. “Kakarot, we need to talk before you go in. I know I said some things I didn’t mean and that you’re angry, but you’re still in heat, you’re not thinking clearly, and you still need me to—“

Goku pulled his arm free with a furious snarl. “Don’t even think about coming near me!” He spat.

Vegeta took a startled step back. “But—Don’t be silly Kakarot. You might be angry, but you need me, you can’t go through second stage on your own—“

“I’ve done it before.” Goku retorted, eyes ablaze. He watched Vegeta for a moment, before something mean slid across his expression. “Besides, even if not, I just need _an_ alpha to get me through my heat. It doesn’t have to be you.”

Vegeta felt like someone had just sucker punched him. “You don’t mean that. You’re not serious.”

“I’m deadly serious.” Goku said, his expression betraying as much.

Vegeta shook his head and forced himself not to believe it. Kakarot had always gotten surprisingly mean while in heat, willing to take verbal jabs he would have normally balked at. This was just more of that Vegeta told himself. The statement rang uncomfortably hollow, but still, there was just no way Goku would actually consider…

“You—Are you rejecting our bond?” Vegeta still asked, unable to stop the words from spilling out despite his disbelief.

Goku narrowed his eyes at Vegeta, then turned away dismissively. “What good would it do? I’m yours, remember?” He laughed mirthlessly. “You’d just kill whoever I chose instead.” Not that he wanted anyone else, but that hardly mattered.

“Kakarot…” Vegeta had no words. The idea of his mate rejecting him had never truly occurred to him. The thought was horrifying.

Goku didn’t look at Vegeta, he just walked away, entered his own tank and let the electric doors slide shut and lock behind him.

Vegeta stared at the slowly filling chamber, a new sense of hopelessness coursing through him. He watched until Goku was completely submerged in liquid, then slowly sank to his knees, thankful that there was no one else in the med-bay to witness this small breakdown. He just needed a moment to _think_.        

Vegeta had really, _really_ screwed up this time. Of course Kakarot wasn’t blameless, being the one to run off in the first place, but that hardly mattered right now. If Vegeta had just controlled his temper they would have been on their way to getting healed right now, eager to spend the rest of Kakarot’s heat together, perhaps they’d even have talked more about a second child…

Speaking of children.

Vegeta got up with a grimace. He had to get in a tank himself, but there was something else he needed to deal with first. He could spend his time in the tank cursing himself later.

Limping on his least injured leg, neither having gotten off scot free, Vegeta grabbed Kakarot’s discarded robe and pulled it on as he made his slow way to the ship’s bridge. He was only just staggering through the electric doors when a small furious bundle smacked into him, jarring Vegeta’s already injured ribs.

Vegeta grunted and was pushed back, forced to block his son’s enraged storm of fists, which was easier said than done in his condition; Kakarot had trained the boy well.

“YOU HURT DADDY!” Gohan screamed, completely lost to his rage.

“Gohan—Gohan, stop!” Vegeta ordered as he grabbed his son’s fists and enveloped them in his own. The toddler didn’t stop struggling, kicking or screaming like an enraged feral animal though, and with a strained grunt Vegeta brought him close and nipped rather harshly at his throat while growling warningly.

Gohan instantly went limp, like a scolded cub always did when given that treatment. Vegeta and Kakarot both preferred not to use that particular method of disciplining, but sometimes it couldn’t be avoided. “Now listen to me Gohan.” Vegeta started, shifting his son so the limp cub was held more comfortably in his arms. “I don’t know what Kakarot said to you but—“

“Daddy didn’t say anything. I saw him.” Gohan whined, trying to struggle through the compulsion to submit to his parent. “The guards said you were fighting and I had to stay here, and then daddy came back and he was bleeding and he smelled sad and angry and like you. You HURT him!”

Vegeta gritted his teeth as Gohan attempted to start fighting again.

Gohan was a mostly well-mannered child, having inherited a mix of his paternal uncle’s and mother’s gentle natures, but just like those two, if you hurt the things he cared about it would cause a full blown explosion. Vegeta was aware of his son’s rather severe backburner rage issues, but had never been on the receiving end to a degree that made Gohan actually attack him before. Luckily the boy was still young, and suppressed by his power restraints to the point where he couldn’t cause much damage, or Vegeta would have had real trouble on his hands.

“It’s true that I hurt your mother, but not like you think.” Vegeta tried to reason with his son, knowing the boy was too smart to accept it if Vegeta tried to make excuses. “We were sparring, and that’s why we’re injured. He’s sad because of something I said afterwards, not because he’s in pain.”

Having apparently listened despite his struggles, Gohan calmed down and looked at his father with a narrow gaze. “You said something bad?”

“I did.” Vegeta confirmed, holding his son’s gaze with a serious expression. “I was angry, and said something I didn’t mean at all, and made your mother very sad. Will you help me make it better?”

Gohan didn’t appear completely convinced, and looked to the side with pursed lips as he thought. “If you’re the one who said the bad thing, then you should be the one to say sorry papa.”

“I know. And I will.” Vegeta assured him, low key amused to have one of his and Kakarot’s own parenting lessons parroted back at him. “But I have to go in a healing tank, so if daddy comes out before me, can you tell him that I’m sorry and I didn’t mean it?”

Employing their son for psychological warfare might be a shitty move, but it was one Vegeta was completely willing to make.  

Gohan seemed to think it over for a bit. “Will daddy be happy again if I do?” He finally asked.

Vegeta sighed. “I don’t know cub.” He pulled Gohan a bit closer and drew in his son’s mild calming baby smell. The boy still smelled like his mother’s happiness too, like laughter and sunshine, probably from earlier that day. “Your daddy isn’t feeling so well right now. It’s that time when he and papa usually have to be alone,” which was how they had explained heats to Gohan so far, “but seeing as he’s mad at me right now, he doesn’t want to, and it’s hurting him.”

Gohan sniffled, not really understanding but knowing that his parents were fighting over something and not liking it. “Can’t you make him happy again papa?”

“I’m going to try.” Vegeta promised.

Gohan put his small arms around Vegeta’s neck and cuddled closer for reassurance. “Okay… Do your best!” He said after a moment, once more parroting something Kakarot often told him.

Vegeta stroked his hair for a moment and then carefully sat his son back down, still mindful of his own injuries. “I’m going to order takeoff, and then go to a tank. You can sit in the captain’s chair while we travel if you want to.”

Gohan took the bait Vegeta had thrown to keep him out of the way and toddled over to said chair before climbing onto it. “I’ll make sure everyone is doing their job.” He sated seriously, arms crossed, once he had planted his little butt in the seat. It was clear that he was trying to mimic his father.

Vegeta chuckled halfheartedly at his son’s antics, his mind still too occupied by Kakarot to feel truly amused. Vegeta did as he had said he would and called the crew, then went back to the med-bay as soon as things were in order.

He quickly readied his own tank, but once it was done he hesitated and, in a moment of weakness, went to Kakarot’s first. Vegeta placed his hand on the glass shielding his unconscious mate while he watched Kakarot float in the green water, his black hair billowing around him. “I didn’t mean to say that to you Kakarot.” Vegeta told the sleeping beta, practicing his words. He had never found it easy to apologize, especially out loud, but in this case actions wouldn’t be enough. “You just make me so furious sometimes… I was never so worried about someone else before I met you. I used to promise myself that you wouldn’t compromise me, but in the end, I lost that battle.”

Vegeta chuckled mirthlessly and rested his forehead against the cool glass. The med-bay was empty, there were no security cameras and Kakarot was asleep. “I suppose I just never expected to fall in… I— My feelings… what I mean is that I—“

Vegeta bit himself off with a curse, swirled around and stalked over to his own tank as fast as his injured legs would carry him. Even here, completely alone, he couldn’t say it out loud. He could hardly admit it to himself.

As Vegeta strapped on the breathing apparatus, he figured that was probably a good thing. There was no reason to embarrass himself in front of Kakarot like that, not when the beta didn’t feel the same way. The fact that Vegeta had caught such a condition himself was embarrassing enough, but there was no reason to torture his mate with the burden of it. Kakarot might be odd in some ways, but he was a proper saiyan in many other. While Kakarot cared for Vegeta, and probably felt a maternal love for Gohan and would continue to do so while the boy was young, he didn’t suffer from the same emotional pitfalls as Vegeta. Kakarot was a normal saiyan who saw his mate and family like pack, like close companions, but nothing more.

It was embarrassing to catch deeper feelings like Vegeta had, and he knew he was hiding it badly, but at least Kakarot was kind enough not to mention it if he realized.

For a saiyan close affection, lust and even family ties were certainly felt, but something as deep and potentially soul-rendering as love? It was frowned upon. Just an all-round bad idea really. What were you going to do when the object of your affection got themselves horrendously killed on the battle field? Go crazy? Yea no. Old stories, though vague on why, would tell you how that sort of shit had consequences. Better to not do it.

If it _did_ happen to you, and of course it would occur to people every now and then, it was best to stay quiet about it. More socially acceptable.  

So no, Vegeta would not be telling Kakarot about that embarrassing secret. He’d fix their relationship somehow, and then settle back into the comfortable knowledge that even though Kakarot would never feel the same, at least he was satisfied to be Vegeta’s mate.

That was enough. It would have to be.

xXx

Goku woke up in pain, fever shivers raking his body and stomach tying knots on itself. Soon he was forced to lean over the edge of the bed and heave into the bucket there, though nothing more than stomach acid came out. It had been too long since he had eaten.

Still dizzy and hurting, Goku curled up around a pillow in a fetus position, trying to breathe through the cramps that were tearing through him. “Vegeta…” He called weakly, not understanding where his mate was, for a moment forgetting why he was alone.

Why he had chosen to be.

Goku felt tears leak from his eyes from a mix of pain and emotional upheaval. It was impossible to think clearly in second stage heat, and his instincts were screaming at him that he was in danger, that he needed his mate there _now_.

Now. Now. Now! Where was his alpha?!

“No.” Goku ground out, forcing that part of himself to shut the hell up. Goku might be in pain, but he wasn’t in danger from any outside forces he reminded himself. He was back on Base One, though how long he had been here he couldn’t tell. It felt like days though. He hardly remembered getting to the royal quarters, much less getting in the bed.

He must have drifted in that strange half-conscious state wracked by pain and fever once more, because when he woke up again it was to a cooling hand stroking his hair back. It felt like instant balm on his burning forehead, and Goku pressed into the touch with a desperate whine.

“Oh Kakarot…” He heard Vegeta sigh.

Goku could have cried from relief. His mate was finally back! Oh thank the gods.

…No, wait. That wasn’t right.

Struggling not to be pulled under again, Goku squinted his eyes open to glare at the prince who was sitting beside him on the bed. Vegeta was fully clothed and healed, and he was watching Goku attentively as he stroked his hair, a complicated expression on his face.

“What are you doing here? I locked the door.” Goku croaked out through a throat that was both dry and sore from repeated coatings of stomach acid.

“Like a flimsy lock would keep me out.” Vegeta said darkly, before visibly controlling himself. “…You were crying out for me. I couldn’t leave you.” He explained.

Goku was angry that Vegeta hadn’t listened to his demand that the alpha _stay away_ , but despite this he couldn’t find the strength to shake off the hand running through his hair. “Well you can show yourself back out. This’ll be done soon. I can last another couple hours without _you_.”

Surprise flashed across Vegeta’s face, quickly followed by worry. “Kakarot… It has only been a couple of hours since we got back. Your heat is _far_ from over.” Vegeta told him. “And it’s only going to get worse.”

Goku closed his eyes, shaken to know that so little time had passed. It had already felt like days, if not weeks. He didn’t understand how it could get worse either. Goku had gone through second stage heat on his own once before, and while it had been a miserable experience that had left him weakened and sick, it hadn’t felt like _this_. “G-get Dilla. Last time she— She can… Medicine.” Goku ground out through another wave of pain.

Vegeta sighed audibly again, sounding more frustrated this time. “This isn’t like last time Kakarot. You’re mated, and we’ve already lain together. You’re not getting through this with drugs, not only will it not work, it could damage you and potentially…” He trailed off.

Goku gritted his teeth and forced himself to breathe through a cramp. He knew what Vegeta was talking about. Theoretically he could already be pregnant, but his body wouldn’t be slowing down before it was sure of that fact, and that could take some time. Too much time. “Damnit!” He cursed in what was practically a scream. Goku _did not_ want to have sex with Vegeta right now. He was way too angry and hurt to want to be intimate with the person who had caused him to feel like that.

At least Vegeta seemed to get this too.

Or so Goku had thought, but when he opened his eyes again he saw that Vegeta had started pulling off his clothes. Goku’s eyes widened and he kicked out, hitting Vegeta in the side. “NO!”

Vegeta grunted, but the impact was too weak to move him. He paused after pulling off his top garments and sent Goku a glare. “Kakarot. Calm the fuck down. Have I ever touched you when you didn’t want it?” He demanded to know.

Goku stared at him with wide eyes, heart pounding, but was forced to admit that… “No, you haven’t.”

“And I’m not going to start now.” Vegeta told him, but despite this he still moved closer. “I know you’re pissed at me, but you _cannot_ deal with this yourself, so I’m going to hold you. Body contact will help.”

Goku pressed his lips together in a tight line, but kept still and said nothing as Vegeta moved to lie behind him, pulling Goku in by the waist until they were spooning and Vegeta’s arms were wrapped around him. Much as Goku hated to admit it, it did bring some relief, and while he couldn’t un-tense, the fact that Vegeta was close enough for Goku to feel him and draw in his scent caused his nausea to slowly diminish.

“Now, while you’re just lying there and fuming in silence anyway, I want you to listen to me.” Vegeta spoke close to his ear.

“I can’t exactly stop you.” Goku growled lowly.

Vegeta sighed and grew silent for a couple of minutes. Goku almost thought he had given up, but then the prince finally spoke up again. “I didn’t mean what I said back there Kakarot. You _are_ a warrior, a fierce one.”

Goku snorted dismissively. “Yea, that’s why you keep me locked up here.” He snapped.

Vegeta was silent for a moment. “You really think that, don’t you.” He asked rhetorically, almost like he was talking to himself. “Tell me then, what exactly would you categorize as ‘being free’ Kakarot?”

Goku was thrown by the question. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but couldn’t immediately find any words to the describe it, or to explain the feeling he missed. “…When I was still on Earth—“ He started slowly, but Vegeta cut him off before he could even finish his first sentence.

“You’re not on Earth.” Vegeta said harshly, but factually. “I’m aware that you had no restrictions on that planet; that you were one of the strongest, if not _the_ strongest, being there, and that for most of your life no one put down any rules for you to follow.” He pulled Goku closer. “But that is not the case here.”

Goku didn’t know what to say, and his silence prompted Vegeta to continue. “There’s a big difference between now and then, namely the danger we all face. You think everyone else in the Coalition is allowed to gallivant across the universe and to any planet they choose? Don’t kid yourself. We have teams, structures, chains of command and a really extensive communications system for a _reason_. No one just goes off on their own devises, not even the elites.” Vegeta growled in his ear. “Then there’s the fact that you’re _not_ the strongest anymore, and that unlike on Earth there are absolutely those who would try and hurt you, if nothing else then to get to me. You’re not just a common soldier anymore, but you seem to have trouble remembering that.”

Goku lay completely still; Vegeta’s words striking a chord within him. But even so, he still had reasons to be mad. Taking a deep breath he steeled himself against the pain in his body to speak evenly. “It… That’s got nothing to do with it. As you say Vegeta, I’m not one of your soldiers, I’m your _mate_. When you go off on a mission I trust you to handle it and come back in one piece, I don’t try to interfere or stop you. I believe in you. But any time I have to go anywhere you send guards or extra troops with me, you stop the mission completely or you go as far to join yourself. You don’t think I can take care of myself.”

“Well excuse me, but unlike you I happen to worry—“

“I worry too!” Goku interrupted him loudly, insulted that Vegeta would think otherwise. No longer feeling as miserable, he turned in Vegeta’s arms until they were face to face and stared the alpha down. “I worry every damn time you leave and I have to stay here with Gohan, wondering if this will be the time you run into Frieza and get _killed_! But unlike you I don’t actually think of my own mate as incompetent.” He snarled.

Vegeta blinked back at him, eyes wide. “You… Worry about me?”

“Of course I do!” Goku yelled, not caring that they were face to face and the volume really wasn’t necessary. “What did you think, that I didn’t care or something? Loosing you is one of the worst things I can imagine!”

Vegeta just opened and closed his mouth like a stranded fish, staring disbelievingly.

Goku eyed him for a moment, then groaned and closed his own eyes. “That’s the difference between us Vegeta. _That’s_ why I’m pissed. We both worry about each other, but I respect you enough to not treat you like a helpless _child_.”

Vegeta looked shocked by Goku’s declaration. For a long time he was silent, eyes shuttered as thoughts seemed to zip through his brain. Finally he looked back up and met Goku’s gaze, and Goku could read a mix of confusion and agitation in his dark eyes. “I don’t think of you as a child Kakarot, but I do… I do perhaps restrict you more than I realized.” He admitted slowly. “But you must understand. I’m not like you, I have never…” He trailed off and broke their stare, unable to continue speaking with full eye contact. “…Before I met you, I never cared for or worried about anyone else. For a long time I was even unwilling to admit that I felt like that about you.”

“Really?” Goku asked. “It was pretty obvious.”

Vegeta didn’t seem amused. “My point here is that I don’t know how to limit my concern—how to control it. Every time you’re not near me I grow restless, unable to focus properly, distracted by trying to follow your ki. The fact that I’m an alpha probably doesn’t help either.”

Goku admitted that it did sound bothersome, but personally thought it wouldn’t be such a problem if Vegeta didn’t subconsciously think of him as weak. “Why is being an alpha a problem?”

“If you hadn’t noticed, alphas are quite a bit more protective, possessive and family oriented than you betas are.” Vegeta told him in an annoyed tone, a blush dusting his cheeks. “Betas are only calm when they have young. Otherwise you lot are the ones inciting fights, stirring up tempers and testing who the strongest partners are. Even when you’re mated you continue to do this. You want to be sure your mate is still the right choice, still the strongest. Alphas are the ones trying to keep their mates’ interest and their packs together.”

Goku raised an eyebrow, somewhat disbelievingly. “So what, if you hadn’t won our fight, I’d have left you? I’d never do that.”

“Oh really?” Vegeta snarked back. “Because I quite clearly remember you mentioning not only a certain piece of filth, but also finding someone else to go through your heat with.”

This time it was Goku’s turn to blush and lower his eyes with guilt. “That was—I didn’t mean that. Not really. But what you said really hurt me a _lot_ and I just…” He closed his eyes and let out a shaky sigh, unsure if he should really admit this, but figuring it was best for them both to get out the truth. “…I can’t be with someone who doesn’t respect me Vegeta. I _can’t_.”

Vegeta clenched his fists around Goku’s arms and growled in anger. “Question my methods all you want, but _never_ think that I would choose someone I didn’t respect to be my mate! You’ll never be king, but you _are_ my consort. My equal in everything but title. I wouldn’t ever have chosen someone weak or incapable of the job.”

At Vegeta’s fervent words, Goku finally felt something unclench in his chest, and he pulled himself closer to Vegeta and smothered a relieved sob into his chest, his entire body shaking from relief. Vegeta hugged him back, his broad warm hands rubbing Goku’s back comfortingly until Goku managed to pull himself together again. He had been so scared that Vegeta would tell him the opposite, that the fears Goku had carried from before they had even mated would have come true.

“…Why you believe others to think so lowly of you will always be a mystery to me, Kakarot.” Vegeta mumbled into his hair.

Goku sniffled, and then wiped his nose on the sheets unapologetically. “Well, you did give me a direct reason to this time.” He retorted.

“And I regret that.” Vegeta reiterated. “I’ll try to keep my instinct to protect you in check, but… Don’t expect miracles.”

Goku snorted. “Well, I did just run off, so I guess you get a pass for a day or two.” He thought for a moment, then grimaced. “And… If I do turn out to be pregnant, you won’t be the only one worried.” Not only did Goku remember the complications from his last pregnancy _very_ clearly, it would also interfere tremendously with his plans to go to Earth.

But really, at this point Goku wasn’t even sure what to do. Running off again… Scaring Vegeta like that, and proving himself to be exactly as untrustworthy and impulsive as the alpha feared, would be really unfair at this point; Goku saw that now. But even so, he couldn’t just do nothing. Time was running out and he still wasn’t sure if he dared tell the other saiyans about the Dragon Balls. As much as Goku liked Vegeta and knew the prince had good parts, he wasn’t completely blind to how ruthless Vegeta’s particular brand of pragmatism could be.

Besides that, Goku didn’t want Earth to be drawn into the fighting, and he knew that was exactly what would happen if the saiyans made contact. Earth was a gentle place, with soft people not suited for the intergalactic war going on beyond their atmosphere among the darkness and stars of the universe. Goku thought that they at least should get to preserve their innocence. 

For now though, Goku left the dilemma alone. He’d think more about it after his heat.

Sensing Goku’s worry, but not being able to tell what it was truly about, Vegeta made the obvious assumption. One of his hands covered Goku’s belly, and with the other he smoothed out the furrow between Goku’s brows with a thumb. “Stop that. Whatever you decide… This time we’ll be more prepared. Our doctors are more experienced and we are better trained in ki control. This time I won’t let anything happen to you.” Vegeta told him seriously.

Goku just hummed, allowing Vegeta to touch him reassuringly for a minute, before suddenly his stomach broke the calm with a fierce rumble. “Ah…” Goku said, and covered it with a hand, his fingers brushing Vegeta’s.

Vegeta chuckled. “If you can last without me for a moment, I’ll go get some food.”

Goku winced. Now that he’d become aware of it, his guts felt like they were eating themselves. “Yea, probably a good idea.” He allowed.

xXx

Vegeta kept a calm posture until he was out of the bedroom, then slumped against the door with the now broken lock as soon as he was out of sight.

Fuck… that had been nerve wracking.

Seeing Kakarot twisting in pain like that and knowing that the beta didn’t want him to help had been enough to make Vegeta feel sick himself. At least Vegeta would be allowed to take care of him now, even if sex might not be on the table... Well, it would depend on how bad the beta got. Vegeta might not be willing to force himself on his mate, but he would much rather seduce him and face his annoyance later than let Kakarot torture himself.

For now Vegeta gathered his frayed nerves and went to pick some light choices from the food he had luckily had the foresight to get sent up.  

Before Vegeta came to, Gohan had already been picked up by Kakarot, who had indeed been the one to appear from his healing tank first, and the boy had since then been deposited with his uncle Tarble, who was luckily willing to entertain the toddler whenever his parents needed him to. In fact Vegeta suspected that Tarble delighted in the active interest Gohan seemed to take in anything science related, while Vegeta dreaded it. He didn’t mind that his son wanted to pursue other fields of interest, but Vegeta would be pissed if it kept Gohan from becoming a proper warrior and someday, hopefully in the far future, a strong king.

Vegeta had also already calmed down, or rather, yelled at his generals, until they got it into their thick heads that no, Kakarot had not become a liability or been a sleeper agent, he had simply been acting out thanks to heat symptoms.

Vegeta had taken care of his other obligations too, and now it was just a question of getting through the next two to three days as pain free as possible.

Best as he was about to reenter the bedroom with a plate of food for his mate, Vegeta caught the telltale beep of his scouter from where it was lying on the dining table, discarded by Vegeta when he had first entered their quarters. He hesitated for a moment, but then went to pick it up. Kakarot could wait another minute.

“What?” Vegeta snapped as soon as he had picked it up and taken the call. “This had better be important.”

“It’s about prince Kakarot, sir.” The officer on the other end informed him.

Vegeta frowned, not following. “Kakarot is here with me.”

“It’s not his whereabouts, it’s… It seems his presence on planet Zelua got noticed.” The officer sounded hesitant. Clearly there was more to these bad news.

“Explain.” Vegeta ordered, eyes closed as he felt a tension headache rising.

“Our intelligence teams have unearthed a newly made galactic bounty for prince Kakarot’s head, prince Gohan’s too.” The officer reported unhappily. “It seems someone on Zelua got not only their descriptions, but pictures.”

Vegeta growled while the plate in his hand was snapped in half, food spilling to the floor. Vegeta hardly felt the porcelain shards crumble in his clenched fist. In a fit of anger he ripped the scouter off his face and threw it across the room, the equipment exploding against the wall. ‘ _Damnit all to hell!’_ Vegeta didn’t need to hear anymore, not the sum promised nor if it was ‘dead or alive’. He could guess.

This was something he had worked very hard to keep from happening. Keeping Kakarot’s appearance unknown had not been easy with how infamous the beta was for making trouble, but somehow Vegeta and his subordinates had managed so far. Outside of the saiyans themselves and their closest allies, only Kakarot’s name had been widely known, and as for Gohan that wasn’t even the case. Most people were happy to assume that Vegeta’s son was also named Vegeta, which the crown prince had done nothing to discourage. It had afforded Kakarot and their child some measure of safety, so that even if they got caught, they would not necessarily be recognized as more than members of the saiyan race. Now that safety net was gone.

“Vegeta…?” Kakarot called faintly from the bedroom, probably wondering what was taking so long.

Hands still trembling from rage, Vegeta forced himself to calm down. He wanted to go and smack Kakarot over the head, to rub it in his face just what his little outing had done until the damn beta got it, but he knew the futility of doing so right now. Kakarot had only just calmed down enough to allow Vegeta near him; yelling more at him at this point would only result in another cold shoulder and the stubborn idiot insisting on going through second stage heat on his own again, never mind that doing so could permanently injure him.      

Drawing in a deep breath, Vegeta ignored the mess he had made and walked over to the food table again with a very controlled pace, but still couldn’t stop his thoughts from whirling.

He didn’t know who had made the bounty, but with one already out there more were bound to follow. Vegeta was no stranger to the system; he had several prices on his head himself.

Much as Kakarot loathed it, Vegeta would need to tighten the security on him from now on. The promise of enough money or power could motivate nearly anyone, and Vegeta had no doubt that exorbitant sums would be promised.

During the last years only one assassin had gotten anywhere close to Kakarot, who had at that point been heavily pregnant with Gohan, and that time Vegeta had managed to kill the intruder himself. It had been a supposed ally, an Etrusian, who still carried resentment for Vegeta for having a part in his planets genocide while the prince was still working for Frieza. Apparently the fool’s wife and children had died during the purge; Vegeta’s warning to evacuate coming too late for the majority of the population.

For years the Etrusian had still worked with the saiyan Coalition in an effort to end Frieza, but once he had heard that Vegeta had taken a mate and was going to be a father himself, it seemed that the man had snapped.

His attempt at Kakarot had been sudden and not well planned; the result of a revenge fueled breakdown instead of outside motivation. Of course Vegeta had still slaughtered the man long before he could get close, and Kakarot had been left none the wiser; Vegeta unwilling to stress him thanks to the beta’s condition.

Now Vegeta thought it might have been a mistake to keep it quiet. If Kakarot realized how vulnerable he was even among people they were supposed to be able to trust, then maybe the beta would be less careless. That would have been preferable, because Vegeta was sure that the next assassins wouldn’t be so incompetent.

“Vegeta?” A louder call and rustling coming from the bedroom forced Vegeta to snap out of his thoughts and to take the new full plate and carry it to his mate.

For now they just had to get through this heat, hopefully with more than just cuddles, and then afterwards Vegeta would take measures for the new threats.

Regardless of how much Kakarot disliked it.      

 

**Two weeks later:**

“Goku! I have great news!”

Goku jerked awake from where he had been napping on the couch, and wiped off a trail of droll as he slowly sat up and blinked groggily at Tarble, who had just busted into the room. “What news?” He asked around a yawn.

“Vegeta told me how stressed you’ve been about your mom, and that the worry might even have caused you to go into heat a little earlier.” Tarble said as he sat down next to Goku. “So I thought I’d tell you first. My colleagues and I have managed to make a fungus and grow mycoprotain! It was really only a question of feeding it the right quantities of glucose and nitrogen and then subtracting the carbon dioxide while—“

Goku blinked at him slowly. “Uh, that’s…”

Tarble’s exited babbling stopped and his expression quickly melted into an embarrassed blush. “Oh right, you don’t know what any of that means, I’m so sorry, I just—This is so great!”

“Just calm down and use small words.” Goku urged while patting his friend on the shoulder. Goku’s back was sore like someone had kicked it black and blue, but he could wait a moment or two to stretch it to hear good news.

Tarble took a deep breath. “In essence, we have managed to make an edible fungus that can be easily grown under controlled conditions, even on planet Vegeta.” He smiled, eyes practically sparkling, then caught himself and laughed embarrassedly. “It’s not perfect of course. While it’s a totally viable food source it can’t replace a varied diet, but… It buys us time.”

Goku’s jaw dropped. “Tarble that’s amazing!” Finally understanding what his friend had managed, Goku reached over and pulled Tarble into a tight hug, practically crushing the smaller saiyan against himself. “You’re a genius!”

Tarble blushed, but hugged Goku back before extracting himself. “It wasn’t just me, and we’ve been working on it for years. Since before Gohan was born in fact.”

“Still, that’s—“ Goku laughed happily. “That’s such a relief.”

Tarble practically slumped back into the couch, as if years of work were suddenly catching up to him, but his smile stayed in place. “Yea, I know… I don’t think I’ve really slept the last three days I was so excited to finish it.”

Goku let out a shaky exhale, a deep grounded tension in his chest finally loosening a bit. It might not be a perfect fix, but it would give Goku a little more time to think and figure out what was the right thing to do, which was something he could really use. Especially now, since…

“I just came by to tell you.” Tarble said as he stood back up. “I have to get back to work now. We’re already busy sending the information to planet Vegeta, but there’s still so much stuff to do.” He straightened out his lab-coat and started towards the door, then paused for a moment and turned back to Goku. “Say, aren’t you actually supposed to be teaching a class right now? I wasn’t really expecting to find you here.”

Goku blinked, gazed upwards as he tried to think and then gasped when he realized that Tarble was right. “Oh crap! I _am_ supposed to be teaching right now!” Goku jumped up from the couch, realizing that he had napped for way longer than expected, but then came to a sudden stop when the world decided to spin around him like a carrousel.

“Whoa! Are you okay?”

Tarble was suddenly next to him again, supporting Goku so he wouldn’t fall, even though Goku had managed to grab hold of the couch’s backrest with a death grip to keep himself up. “Yea… Yea I’m ok.” Goku mumbled as the dancing spots in front of his eyes started disappearing. “Just low blood pressure. It’s normal.”

When Goku turned towards Tarble again, it was easy for him to see that his brother in law wasn’t very convinced. “Are you sure we shouldn’t get you to the med-bay?”

Goku smiled. “I’m sure. It’s not something bad.” He assured. “Just go to work, you don’t need to stay with me.”

“Well… Okay then, I guess…” Tarble said slowly, before letting go of Goku and slowly moving towards the door. “But keep your scouter on you and tell Vegeta, okay? Don’t take chances with your health.”

“I won’t.” Goku promised, while waving Tarble off.

When his brother in law finally left, Goku slumped slightly and let out a sigh. Yea, he really couldn’t afford to take chances with his health right now. That in mind, Goku decided to cancel the day’s class on ki control, and after doing so he slowly moved over to the kitchenette, hand absently caressing his still flat belly while he made himself a cup of tea.

It didn’t come as a surprise to him then, when Vegeta came back from work early that afternoon. Gohan was still with his tutors, so Goku thought it was lucky that Vegeta was back. This way they’d have a chance to talk in peace.

“Kakarot. I heard you took the day off. Are you feeling alright?” Vegeta asked as the first thing after slamming the doors open and stalking across the room to reach Goku’s side.

Goku lowered the tablet he had been playing a game on, and smiled up at Vegeta from where he was lying on the couch. “Pretty alright for being a few weeks pregnant.”

“You—!” Vegeta spluttered, eyes wide, but quickly managed to pull himself together. They had both suspected after all. “I see.” He said while sitting down on the edge of the couch next to Goku. “…And what do you want to do?”

“Keep it of course.” Goku said with a fake stern glare at his mate. “But you already knew that.” If nothing else then the fact that Goku had still been willing to sleep with Vegeta during his heat, after their talk, and as such definitely risk getting pregnant if he wasn’t already, should have tipped him off.

Of course babies always seemed like a great idea when you were in heat, regardless of what you had thought beforehand, but Goku couldn’t work up enough energy to be upset about it. He just hoped he’d have a better pregnancy this time.    

“I… Yea.” Vegeta admitted, rubbing a hand over his mouth while he looked at Goku’s abdomen. Slowly he reached out and placed his hand there. “Another child… After your last heat I wasn’t sure you would—“

Vegeta cut himself off, but Goku was still able to hear the conflict and doubt anyway. His eyes gentled and he reached out to briefly squeeze Vegeta’s hand.

While they had talked it out, the subject of their argument still sometimes hang awkwardly in the air between them. Vegeta still wasn’t good on letting up, and it made Goku feel smothered by the alpha’s attempts at protection. Apparently Goku’s little outing had caused more ‘damage’ than first assumed. He was now a wanted man, so to speak. Goku couldn’t see how it made much difference from before, but Vegeta was stressed about it, and it certainly hadn’t helped his already existing tendency to be tense and over worried.   

But even if the air between them wasn’t completely clear… “I’m not mad at you anymore. Not really.” Goku told Vegeta with another reassuring squeeze of his hand.

Unfortunate things had been said by both of them after all.

Vegeta smiled halfheartedly at that. Kakarot might not be angry with him, but he wouldn’t be likely to forget soon either. For now though, things seemed to keep. They seemed to do more than that really. Saiyans weren’t always the most fertile lot, but Kakarot and him certainly seemed to have a flair for it. Another child… Vegeta had felt lucky to get even one.

Determining that his mate was going to be staring stupidly at Goku’s still completely flat belly for a while longer, Goku shrugged mentally and went back to his game. Truth be told, he wasn’t as relaxed as he would appear, but there wasn’t much he could do right now except try to keep calm and figure out the best course of action. Unfortunately complicated plans and weighing pros and cons weren’t exactly Goku’s strong suits, but since he couldn’t ask anyone else, he would just have to try his best.

There was one thing he was considering rather heavily, and after today, he felt even surer that it could work out well… Maybe.

Luckily it seemed he would have a little more time to think.

        

**3 ½ months later:**

 

Gohan was going to be a big brother!

He had already told his uncle Raditz and Tarble and Grandma, and they had all looked surprised and gasped really loudly, so they probably hadn’t known yet. Gohan’s daddy was four months along, which Gohan wasn’t really sure what meant except that it would still be a long time before he could meet the new baby. But yesterday papa had put Gohan’s hand on daddy’s belly and helped him sense the energy of his little sibling. It had been really strange. Gohan thought it had to be really tiny to be inside his daddy, and had asked how it had gotten in there in the first place. Had daddy swallowed it?

“Not this one.” Papa had said with a smirk, and then daddy had gotten all red in the face and smacked him until papa stopped grinning. Gohan didn’t get what papa had meant.

Daddy said they couldn’t know what it was yet, that the baby wasn’t positioned right, but Gohan hoped it was a brother. Both papa and daddy each had a brother, so Gohan thought it would only be fair that he have one too. He’d be a good big brother, he decided. He would teach his little brother lots of things, and he was even coming up with names for him!

They couldn’t name him pudding though. Papa hadn’t liked that name. Gohan thought it was a shame; pudding was delicious. Who wouldn’t want to be reminded of it every time they heard their name?

Adults were weird.

Even Gohan’s daddy, who was the best in the whole world, was sort of weird. He ate really strange things now, and he said it was because the baby wanted them. …Maybe Gohan’s brother was the one who was weird.

Right now daddy was eating pickles on smoked cheese again. Gohan didn’t understand why anyone would do that willingly. It smelled! Papa seemed to think so too with the way he was wrinkling his nose.

“Really Kakarot? That is vile.”

Daddy glared and took another big bite of his cheese and pickle combo.

Gohan looked between his parents, furrowing his brows in worry. “It’s okay daddy.” He said, reaching over to pat his daddy’s arm. “Even if you eat pickles, I’ll still mate you when I grow up, okay?” He tried to reassure.

Daddy choked on his food.

Gohan got a bit scared when daddy really couldn’t breathe for a little while, but then papa pulled daddy into a hug with daddy’s back against his chest and squeezed him several times until he could again.

Daddy had to drink water and lie down for a little bit after that, and papa wouldn’t stop laughing for some reason.

Daddy seemed worried. “Vegeta, this isn’t funny! That can’t be normal! Stop laughing already!”

Papa didn’t stop laughing, but he calmed down a bit and wiped his eyes, managing to answer daddy anyway. “It’s perfectly normal Kakarot. The only question was really which one of us he’d fixate on. Guess with all the pregnancy pheromones you’re pumping out it ended up being you.”

Daddy frowned, then turned to face Gohan. “Hey buddy, don’t look so worried, come over here.”

Gohan ran over to the couch and climbed up next to his daddy, leaning against his chest and slightly bigger belly. It was always so nice and soft to rest against daddy, and he smelled so good. Daddy stroked his hair. “It’s nice of you that you’ll mate me—“

“Even though he eats pickles.” Papa broke in.

Daddy growled at him and papa lifted his hands in surrender, then daddy turned back to Gohan again. “Anyway… It’s really sweet of you Gohan, but I’m already mated to your father, so I’m afraid I can’t.”

Gohan frowned at being told that, and looked questioningly over at his papa, wondering if that was really true. Papa just nodded back, and Gohan frowned harder. That wasn’t fair. “What if… What if I get stronger than papa then? If I can win against papa, then I’ll be a better mate, right?”

This time it was daddy who laughed. In fact he laughed so hard he had to clutch at his sides. “Haha, haha ha! Oh gods… Not laughing so much now, are you Vegeta?” He asked, still chuckling and with tears of mirth in his eyes.

“Oh shut up Kakarot.” Papa growled.

Daddy just chuckled and ruffled Gohan’s hair. “You’ll be a good mate for someone someday Gohan. You’re really kind after all.”

Hmm. Perhaps being kind was better than being strong then. For now Gohan wasn’t really sure, and he was starting to get a bit sleepy after eating and with how warm and nice it was to sit beside daddy. Oh well, he’d figure it out later.

 

**3 ½ months later:**

 

Goku was seated on the ground in the nature room simulating planet Vegeta, leaned awkwardly against a rock to support his 7 month weight, while he plucked restlessly at the grass. Even though he had already asked to meet here, a place without any people during most of the day and no surveillance cameras, he still felt uncertain.

He was really starting to run out of time though. Going anywhere after he had given birth wouldn’t be feasible for quite some time, not with how much his instincts would rebel against the notion. At that point Goku would want nothing more than to be somewhere safe and secure with Vegeta close by, his baby in his arms and a steady supply of food.

If he was supposed to do anything within the next year or so, it would have to be now.

The fungus thing Tarble had invented had certainly helped, but it just hadn’t been enough. Saiyans needed a lot of food, and a single type of nutrience just didn’t cut it. They couldn’t produce it fast enough either. Goku sighed and leaned his head back against the stone. For quite a while his mom had started looking a little better, but the drought had continued and now there just weren’t any more things to alternate the fungus with. Has parents hadn’t said anything, but Goku did actually read reports on the state of their planet, and he wasn’t ignorant.  

At this rate, the saiyans on planet Vegeta wouldn’t last another half year.

Vegeta knew it too. Hell, everyone knew it, and it had spread a somber mood across the entire base. Already there had been two deaths from starvation symptoms. One an elderly who had refused to eat until he died, saying that recourses shouldn’t be wasted on an old man like him, and the other…

A child.

The report had come in yesterday, and Goku had almost thrown up his lunch when he heard. Those two deaths, they were his fault. He had been playing for too much time, thinking it was okay, he could give birth and figure it out later; that he was reasonably excused. Vegeta was so very observant around him too, constantly worried it seemed, even though Goku wasn’t suffering from power burn this time. The prince tried spending as much time on base with Goku as he could, but it was difficult. The fighting in the Milky Way had grown worse, they had lost an allied planet by not responding fast enough, and now the rest of their new allies in the surrounding systems were distrustful, scared and uncooperative.

It was hard to keep communications running properly, and with all the unrest within their coalition, things constantly seemed to go wrong. Vegeta thought they had a spy among some of their fringe bases, but he had no proof. Even so, the prince was growing more and more agitated by the day. Goku was sure that suspicion and Vegeta orbiting around him like a restless guard dog wasn’t unrelated either.

Finally the doors to the pressure alignment chamber opened and his ‘guest’ stepped inside.

Goku swallowed heavily, muscles tense. He had a lot riding on this. If it turned out he had trusted the wrong person…

He hoped that wasn’t the case.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t suspect any of you expected the throwaway mention a few chapters back of Tarble being distracted by watching fungus grow to actually be important.
> 
> Come talk to me on tumblr! I'm friendly... Sort of. I'm also thinking of doing some one shot promts for Kakavege week, so come throw promts at me if that interests you.  
> https://thesauruswithnowords.tumblr.com/


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If something goes wrong, just shanghai people.

 

”Hey Goku. What’s up?” Tarble asked easily as he drew near his brother in law who seemed to be sunning in the nature room. He slowed his pace though, when he noticed how tense Goku actually looked. “…So I’m guessing you didn’t just want to meet for lunch.” Tarble stated.

Goku looked at him, his normally cheerful honey brown eyes unusually stormy, almost severe in the red light of the artificial sun. “Sit down Table.”

Tarble sat down. He faced Goku, legs crossed, and fists lying tensely across his lap. “Did Vegeta do something stupid again?” He wondered, hoping that it would be no more than that.

Goku shook his head, not quite meeting Tarble’s eyes anymore. “No, but _I_ might. That’s why I need your help, so it goes well instead of… Wrong.”

Tarble frowned. “I don’t understand what you mean Goku. What are you planning? It sounds risky, and you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t be—“

Goku held up his hand to stop him. “I know. But this isn’t just about me. It’s about everyone on planet Vegeta.” Goku looked at him straight again, expression set and completely serious. “I know you’re going to want to refuse, but before you do, remember that we’re both royalty. We have a duty to these people.”

Tarble blinked, unnerved by the way Goku was acting. “You sound almost like Vegeta right now.”

“Really?” Goku smiled a little, but it didn’t manage to reach his eyes before it was gone again. “I’m sure Vegeta won’t approve of me doing this though, even if I’m the only one who can.”

Tarble shifted nervously, not liking where this was going at all. “Please get to the point Goku.”

Goku nodded imperceptibly and did just that. “I know how to save everyone on planet Vegeta, but to do so I need to go to Earth, and I need to make sure that no one realizes how I did it.”

Tarble’s jaw dropped. “That’s… Goku that’s insane! Going to Earth means crossing directly through the fighting, or at least very close to it, but even if it didn’t, you’re still over seven months pregnant and Vegeta would have a heart attack!”

Goku didn’t look like this was news to him. “I know that already. If I thought I could, I wouldn’t be trying to sneak this past him, but as it is… Vegeta can’t know.”

“Why not?!” Tarble demanded, voice stressed. “He’s your mate. _And_ he’s the crown prince. If you tell him you have some way to rescue everyone, as crazy as that sounds, then he’ll do it.”

“Exactly. _He_ will do it.” Goku sounded bitter for a moment, but then he bit his lip and looked to the side, seeming momentarily fragile. “Tarble, answer this honestly… If Vegeta was given near unlimited powers to do _one_ thing, what would he choose?”

The question threw Tarble for a loop, but seeing how Goku really wasn’t joking at all, he answered it seriously. He didn’t even need to think. “He’d defeat Frieza.”

“What if killing someone with it wasn’t possible?”

“Then…” Tarble thought for a moment, feeling more and more sure that this wasn’t just a theoretical round of questioning anymore. Goku was being too specific. “Killing directly or does indirectly count?” He wondered, wanting to know the parameters.

Goku watched him for a moment, eyes searching, then sighed, looked away and answered with a pretty firm list of conditions. “Directly. Though depending on how it’s done, maybe indirectly too. You can ask for almost anything else, power too I think, though I’ve never seen it done. I’m not sure of the other restrictions, only that there _is_ some sort of cap to its abilities, like that it can only bring back someone from the dead once.”

“Bring back the dead?!?” Tarble screeched. That just sounded insane. Either his brother in law had lost it, or he was somehow in cahoots with the Gods. Both ideas frightened Tarble, but at the very least, he was completely sure that Goku wasn’t joking.

“Please answer my question Tarble.” Goku said, his hands clenched in the baggy red harem pants he favored to wear.

“Okay, I—Just give me a moment.” Tarble asked while running a stressed hand through his sweaty hair. This was insane. “If… If he could I guess he’d ask for power, or maybe immortality? Something that would give him a fighting chance against Frieza.”

“And what if someone tried to stop him from using The—this power?” Goku asked while leaning forwards, seeming very invested in the question.

Tarble rubbed his tense neck, uncomfortable with the very idea. “Well, he’d kill them, no doubt.”

Goku sighed and sat back. “Yea, I figured.” He still seemed sad. Even if he wasn’t surprised, it clearly wasn’t what he had hoped to hear.

After a moment of hesitation, Tarble scooted closer. “You said it could only bring back the dead _once_. That implies it can be used more than one time Goku.” He spoke lowly, by now having realized why Goku had wanted to meet far away from other people. If this got out, there would be chaos.

Goku twitched, clearly not having meant to give that away, at least not yet, but then he just sighed and nodded. “It’s a lot of power to have on hand. And no matter how much I like Vegeta… He’s not the nicest person always. Or the most stable.”

There was unfortunately quite a bit of truth in that. As much as Vegeta had calmed down and emotionally matured since mating with Goku, Tarble knew he could still be ruthless and that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill for his own convenience. Tarble sighed deeply and focused back on the seriousness of the situation. “I don’t like admitting it, but if my brother got his hands on that kind of power, then I don’t think he’d ever let go of it. It just wouldn’t be a saiyan thing to do.”

Goku’s mouth turned downwards, his eyes faraway with thoughts. “I’m… Not completely sure that’s true, but I’m not completely sure it isn’t either.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, clearly caught in a dilemma. “I want to trust Vegeta with this, even my instincts are telling me to, but…”

“He burned you once.” Tarble ended the sentence for him.

Goku whipped his head around to stare at him, and Tarble just nodded. “Yea, I know what he said. Weird as it can be, he actually talks to me sometimes now, about you at least. I’m sure he understated it though.” Vegeta wasn’t exactly fond of admitting to faults after all. He only did so haltingly, when something was really hounding him. ‘Something’ meaning things involving Goku. Vegeta didn’t have much of a conscience outside of his mate and child. Tarble wasn’t even sure how much his brother liked _him_ some days. 

Goku looked away again. “Well it’s not just…”

“It’s not just that, I know.” Tarble wasn’t blind to his brother’s bad qualities, even though they were fever than they had once been. He could understand why Goku felt torn on the subject though. Keeping something this serious from your own mate, and not feeling you could trust them with it in the first place, really couldn’t be fun.

Goku stared at the artificial nature surrounding them for a while, eyes looking lost. Then he blinked, and the hesitation was gone. When he turned back to face Tarble, his expression was once again set. “So, will you help me?”

Tarble was flattered that Goku didn’t even consider the idea that Tarble would use this power, whatever it was, for himself. He was also absolutely right though. What Tarble wanted most right now was to help their people. “I already told you Goku, back when we became friends, that if there was anything you couldn’t talk to Vegeta about, then you could come to me.”

Goku seemed to perk up. “You mean you’ll do it?”

“I’ll _try_.” Tarble said. “I’m really not sure how you expect us to get to Earth without Vegeta finding out though. I just can’t see how.”

“I know. Trust me, I’ve been wondering the same thing for _years_.” Goku said with frustration. “There’s surveillance and guards everywhere on base. All ships are tagged and automatically logged when they fly through checkpoints or use the jump gates. You need A51 fuel for any trip longer than a week and though it’s gotten more standard to use, it’s still heavily kept check with, so it’s not used on shorter trips accidentally. You have to hand in your mission form or apply for your tank to even get filled with it. If you fly off route you’ll be contacted and asked to explain why.” Goku threw his arms out. “It’s practically foolproof.”

Tarble was a bit thrown to hear his brother in law rattle off such an accurate summary on their control systems, but figured he should have known. Goku had been given a very thorough education over the last four years. He was no longer the illiterate, country bumbkin raised in the wilds that Vegeta had picked up on a whim. Goku was a prince consort, expected to one day rule their planet next to Vegeta. Clearly he wasn’t planning on skirting this duty. “You said ‘practically’ though, so I’m guessing you have some idea.”

Goku scratched the back of his head, looking really shifty now. “Well, there’s a few exceptions to the logging of ships. Team commanders can turn their tagging off…”

Tarble frowned. “But you don’t know any team commanders aside from Vegeta and…” Tarble’s eyes widened. “No. Ooooh no. No way. Not him.”

Goku winced. “I know. I’m not exactly crazy about the idea either.”

Tarble stood up, unable to sit still after hearing this. “He’s disgraced! We don’t even know what he’s doing half the time! He tried to kill Vegeta, hell, he probably still would if he could get away with it!” Tarble railed as he paced in circles around the still seated Goku. Tarble spun and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t think he’s given up on you either. If it’s to piss off Vegeta, he would absolutely still try his luck.”

Goku sighed with a pinched expression, looking really uncomfortable. “Yea, that’s kinda what I’m counting on.”

Tarble felt his jaw drop from surprise, but then picked it up and crinkled his nose. “Do _not_ tell me you plan to try and seduce him into helping you. It’s going to backfire in so many horrible ways I can’t even—“

“Whoa! No!” Goku said, shaking his head wildly. “No. I’m not doing anything like that. How do you even seduce someone? I have no idea. Besides, I wouldn’t do anything that got me more of that kind of attention. I’m really just counting on him helping me because he knows it’ll piss off Vegeta.”

Tarble rubbed his face harshly and groaned into his hands. “This is such a bad idea. Vegeta is going to kill me.” After a moment of contemplating his own death, Tarble peeked out past his fingers with a glare. “Well? Tell me this horrible plan then.”

The corner of Goku’s mouth twitched, but he quickly grew serious again. “Vegeta is leaving on a mission tomorrow. He supposed to be gone a week. As soon as he leaves I’m going to contact Turles, and ask him to request a dignitary team. If the last reports I saw are correct, then he’s already in the Milky Way, so it won’t be strange for us to fly that way. This is when _you_ have to accept this mission, and then find some sort of reason to bring me. I don’t know what it could be… Some planet making demands to either see Vegeta or me would work as an excuse I guess. Anyway, we leave, and then once we get there, we change to a non-coalition ship and fly the rest of the way to Earth unobstructed.”

Tarble stared, unable to believe what he’d just heard. “That’s… A both surprisingly detailed and plausible plan. Just when the hell did you come up with that?” Tarble asked, the curse word slipping out from surprise.

Goku smiled tiredly, not even seeming particularly proud, more like he hated that it had been necessary. “As I said, I’ve had years to think about it. When I ran away to Zelua during my last heat… Well, it turned out more half-baked than it was supposed to, but I was checking response time. I actually thought I had chosen a ship parked in the part of the hanger where the security footage didn’t reach, but I was wrong about that.” Goku shrugged. “In the end it caused me more trouble than help though.” He pointed tellingly at his swollen belly, then widened his eyes when he realized how that sounded. “Not that I regret this kid! I just—He wasn’t exactly planned you know? It’s just bad timing. That’s not the little one’s fault.” He rubbed his belly gently, as if apologizing to his child.

Meanwhile Tarble was rearranging his worldview to fit the fact that Goku was clearly not as clueless as his behavior tempted you to believe. “I can’t believe that was premediated.” He mumbled. Just like everyone else, he had thought that Goku had suffered a heat episode of impulsivity and had gone off in a fit of challenge lust towards his mate.

“It wasn’t completely premediated. I really hadn’t planned to just run off like that, but you know, heat.” He shrugged in a ‘what can you do’ kind of way. “At least I didn’t kill anyone this time.”

“A-huh.” Tarble said, side-eying his brother in law rather heavily. Tarble forgot sometimes, just how dangerous betas could be. The fact that Goku had carved a bloody canyon through Frieza’s troops the one time he had gone into a shock induced heat was still pretty clear in Tarble’s mind though. At least he had gotten pregnant with Gohan during that same heat, and everyone had been spared from his crazy for the next three years. Maybe it was because he was a male beta, or maybe it was just his own quirk, but so far Goku hadn’t managed to go through a single normal but full blown heat without causing some level of destruction or drama, usually both. But of course Vegeta was partially to blame for that too, which should surprise absolutely no one.

“So? What do you think?” Goku asked, bringing Tarble out of his reminiscing.

“Well, I think we’re both insane, but it’s the best idea we’ve got.”

Goku laughed. “Yea, and I didn’t even mention the fact that Vegeta will come back to base before we can return and probably have a fit.”

“Oh. Wonderful.” Tarble said, completely deadpan. He swore he hadn’t been this prone to sarcasm before he started hanging out with Raditz on a more regular basis, but the taller saiyan was right. Sometimes it really was all that got you through dealing with Vegeta and Goku.

 

xXx

 

As it turned out, one day was enough for Goku to start getting cold feet. As he watched Vegeta from their bed that morning, the alpha busy with pulling on his under armor, Goku got the sudden feeling that he really, really shouldn’t do this. Maybe he made a sound, or maybe it was just coincidence, but Vegeta turned around to face him and immediately frowned when he caught Goku’s expression. “Kakarot?” He asked as he quickly walked over to Goku’s side and cupped his cheek. “Are you in pain?”

Goku stared up at him, clutching the bedsheets between white-knuckled hands. He couldn’t do this. Oh Kami, he couldn’t _do this_. Vegeta was looking at him with so much concern, his dark eyes swallowing Goku up. It was only too easy to imagine how those same eyes would widen with fear, then anger, one he realized that Goku had run off.

“Kakarot say something. You’re worrying me!”

Vegeta was kneeling on the bed next to Goku now, and Goku blinked, realizing he had zoned out for a moment. “Just… Just a bad feeling.” He excused feebly.

“Do you need to go to the med-bay?” Vegeta demanded, one hand on Goku’s belly.

Goku shook his head, then reached out and pulled Vegeta closer. “Just hold me for a moment.” He asked. Vegeta was probably confused, but he did as Goku asked, and even ran soothing fingers through his hair with his still ungloved hands.

Shuddering, Goku pulled them both down until they were lying side by side on the bed, Goku hiding his face against Vegeta’s chest. It was too late to chicken out now damnit, but… What if he just told Vegeta? Maybe—Maybe he would understand? Maybe he’d let Goku go, and actually trust him to do this? Going to Earth wasn’t even dangerous in itself; it was a peaceful planet, safer than many places he had been on missions to before.

“Vegeta I—“

“You’re not going anywhere today.” Vegeta cut him off before Goku could confess. “I don’t know if you’re just stressed, or if it’s something else, but you’re too pale and you been acting off the last couple of days. Stay here. I’m going to get a medic to be on standby outside, and I’m doubling your guards.”

Goku pulled back enough to look at him. “I don’t need that, I feel fine, I was just worried about you.”

Vegeta shook his head. “No. I’m not leaving you alone like this, you’re too vulnerable already. If you’re not feeling well, then you’ll also be distracted and an easier target. You should cancel your classes until I come back, stay here instead.”

Goku frowned. “I’m not as weak as I was with Gohan. This one isn’t sucking as much energy. I don’t need a double guard— _Or_ a medic.” Goku added, when Vegeta immediately opened his mouth to counter.

Vegeta glared, looking a bit wild around the eyes. Goku was forced to remember once again how little sleep Vegeta got these days. “It’s happening as I say it will.”

Goku stared back, angry to have his wishes overridden with so clear disregard. “Don’t just decide over my head like that!”

“I’m not kidding Kakarot, I already hate that I have to leave you, don’t fight me on this.” Vegeta said tiredly as he started standing up. “Stay.”

Goku bristled at the command. “I’m not a _pet_.” He spat.

“No, a pet knows how to take orders; you’re way more troublesome.” Vegeta retorted, back to him as he pulled on his gloves. It was clear from Vegeta’s tone that it was meant as a joke, but Goku felt he might as well have been slapped.

This… This was why he couldn’t say anything. Even after all this time, even after talking about it repeatedly, Vegeta would still act over his head if he deemed it ‘safer’ for Goku. Sitting completely still on the bed, hardly breathing, his eyes barely followed Vegeta as he gathered his last items from the room and put on his scouter. Then Vegeta stepped closer to the bed again, snatched Goku’s chin and kissed him.

Goku let him, but didn’t kiss back.

The kiss had been relatively quick, so Vegeta didn’t seem to notice. He pulled back and ran a thumb over Goku’s lower lip. “Stay safe, Kakarot.”

It was their usual goodbyes. What they always told each other when one of them had to leave. In a mix of frustration and anger, Goku thought for a moment about not replying, but in the end forced himself to. “You too Vegeta.”

It would be too suspicious to change the routine now. Vegeta had already noticed he was acting off. The prince didn’t seem to be noticing anything now though, or perhaps he was simply putting it down to pregnancy mood swings and Goku ‘overreacting’ as Vegeta was fond of accusing him of. In either case, he left after they had exchanged the familiar words, door snicking closed behind him and leaving Goku alone in the sudden silence of their bedroom.

Goku curled up around a pillow and tried to get himself under control. So much for that idea then... It seemed the plan was still on.

 

xXx

 

Goku scratched his arms uncomfortably as he waited in the empty communications room for the call to go through. Anything to distract him right now. His baby was active, kicking against Goku’s right side as the little boy was most fond of doing. Gently, Goku placed a hand there to push back and was rewarded with a couple of hard kicks to his palm, which made him chuckle weakly. They had learned the gender a couple of months ago, now all that remained to be seen was whether he was an alpha like Vegeta, which was most likely, or a one in a thousand off chance like Goku.

The call connected, forcing Goku to snap out of his daze, and on the screen appeared a man that Goku hadn’t seen for almost 4 years.

Turles looked surprised to see him, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, before he quickly schooled his face into a blank expression. “Kakarot… Or should I call you Prince Consort? What an unexpected honor. I must admit I never expected to hear from you again.” He did nothing to disguise the bitterness in his voice, and Goku fought not to wince. He knew this might not go smoothly, but he had to try.

“Turles…” Goku said slowly, carefully. He really wasn’t sure of the best way to segue into this, and decided to just go for it instead. “I need your help.”

Eyes widening again, Turles looked him over more thoroughly. He was silent for a moment as thoughts seemed to whizz through his head. “Not everything is perfect in mated paradise I take it?” He asked finally, smiling grimly. “You wouldn’t be talking to me if you thought Vegeta could help you, so either you can’t trust him, or… _He_ is the problem.”

Biting his lip, Goku’s eyes flickered as he thought how best to answer that. He didn’t want it to seem like his relationship with Vegeta wasn’t working, not in front of this particular male. Unfortunately Turles seemed to take his nervous hesitance as answer enough.

“Did he hurt you?” He asked, voice suddenly dark.

Goku jumped and whipped his head around to look at Turles again. “No!” He denied vehemently. Vegeta might be an insensitive ass, and severely overprotective, but he definitely wasn’t abusive. This clearly seemed to be what Turles was thinking though, if his skeptical expression was anything to go by. Goku ran a hand through his hair. “Look that’s not… I don’t have the time to try and convince you right now. I need you to help me leave Base One without getting traced. Can you do that?” Goku asked outright, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to corner Turles with mind games or trick him anyway.

Unimpressed, and clearly unconvinced, Turles just raised an eyebrow. “So you’re running away from home and your mate, but Vegeta isn’t the problem? Sure.” He snorted. “I suppose you’re asking for help this time since your last jailbreak didn’t go so well?”

Firming his lips until they were nothing but a thin line, Goku held his words back and thought. Clearly Turles knew about his trip to Zelua, which wasn’t completely unexpected with the informants the commander had in the underworld. Hell, Turles had probably been the one to first hear of the bounty on Goku’s head. When they had first met, Goku had had no idea that Turles worked with information gathering as much as he did battle. It made a lot of sense in hindsight though. He wasn’t terribly surprised that the commander had kept track of him either, but right now he was too exhausted to consider the insinuations there. If Turles was still carrying a torch for him then… Well, it was none of Goku’s concern.

He had expected to have to explain his plans to Turles to some degree, but right now the commander seemed quite willing to assume Goku’s reasoning on his own. It could be useful. It would mean one less person knowing that something on Earth held massive powers, one less source for the rumors to slip through… But then again, it would also mean throwing Vegeta under the proverbial buss, and no matter how annoyed Goku may be with his mate right now, he found he just couldn’t do that. “Vegeta isn’t the reason for any of this.” Goku finally said, voice firm. “It’s about our people, everyone on Planet Vegeta. I know how to help them, but…” He gestured at his protruding belly. “No one wants me to leave right now.”

“Yes, I noticed your… Predicament.” Turles said with a crinkled nose. Kakarot might not be his, but it was still not fun to see him heavily pregnant with another man’s child, much less his rival’s. The fact that Kakarot hadn’t called him to get away from Vegeta was disappointing too, even if Turles still wasn’t completely convinced that wasn’t the case. In any circumstance it would be foolish to turn Kakarot down though, whether he spoke the truth or not. There might still be some way for Turles to work this to his own advantage. “You know how to help our people? Fine. I’ll help you, but don’t think I won’t figure out what you’re doing Kakarot.”

Goku let out a sigh and released some of the tension in his shoulders. That had gone a lot easier than he had hoped. He had expected for Turles to want something in return, and had dreaded what he would ask for, but clearly the former pirate wasn’t trying to work that angle right now. “Thank you Turles. Really.”

“Just tell me what you need.” Turles responded, quickly getting down to business, clearly used to it.

Goku nodded and told him his plans.

 

xXx

 

“Please hurry Tarble, we have to leave before the rapport reaches any of the generals.” Goku urged, practically dragging his brother in law along at the outskirts of the hanger, towards a small battle cruiser meant for long travel. The longer they stayed the bigger the chance someone would look over the aid request Turles had sent with more critical eyes, and wonder why in the world the commander would want not one, but _two,_ high ranking dignitaries on a planet that was basically a scrap of space rock with a small checkpoint and a trade post.

The second prince wasn’t deliberately dragging his feet, more like he was so nervous that he was tripping every third step. “Maybe we should reconsider. Maybe it would be smarter to wait for Vegeta after all?” He asked, eyes wide and voice high pitched from stress. “We’re not even bringing a medic. What if you go into labor? Oh gods this is such a bad idea!” He lamented, even as Goku frantically shushed him.

“We have a healing tank. It’ll be fine.” Goku argued, finally spotting their ship. He picked up speed, but Tarble was still deadweight.

“What about Gohan? He won’t understand both his parents leaving him like this.”

That actually made Goku slow down a bit, an uncomfortable stone being added to the already cold pit of guilt in his belly. “He—He’s a big boy, he’s really smart. He’ll be okay for a couple of weeks.” Goku reasoned, just as much to convince himself. The longest he had ever been away from Gohan was on a five day dignitary mission when his son was one, and Goku had cried when he finally got back, having not been mentally or hormonally prepared to leave his baby back then. Now there wasn’t any choice though. As much as Goku wanted to bring Gohan and introduce his son to Earth and his friends, Goku knew that it would only complicate things. Besides, in the very unlikely case that anything went wrong…

“Goku, stop! _Stop_!” Tarble suddenly urged, while pulling his wrist free of Goku’s grip.

Goku did stop, and turned to frown at Tarble, only to pause when he saw his brother in law’s suddenly pale face. Slowly Tarble raised a hand and pointed with a single finger to something behind Goku.

With a gulp, Goku followed the motion and turned to find someone unexpected waiting for them at the foot of their ship.

“Uh, hi, Raditz…”

His older brother did not look impressed. “What the fuck do you two nerds think you’re doing?” He asked in a pissed off tone of voice, arms crossed. To make matters worse, Goku hadn’t even managed to answer before Gohan suddenly appeared over Raditz’ shoulder, having clearly been clinging to his uncle’s back like a little monkey until that point. “Daddy!” He called excitedly, jumping down with a grace afforded by his saiyan blood and running up to his mother to cling to one of Goku’s legs.

“Wha—Gohan?” Shocked, Goku quickly looked up from his son and back to his brother. “What are you doing here Raditz? Why did you bring Gohan?”

Raditz rolled his eyes with a sneer and stalked closer. “You really think I wouldn’t notice you were up to something? You might have everyone else fooled, but I know your sly ass better than Vegeta does sometimes, and you can’t distract me with the cutesy act.” He came to a stop in front of Goku, glaring down at his shorter brother. “So pray tell, why exactly are you trying to leave for an unsanctioned mission in an untagged B team ship, huh?”

“Uuhhh….” Goku’s eyes flickered around wildly, noticing that while Raditz had intercepted them, he hadn’t brought anymore guards. “That doesn’t explain Gohan.” He said to buy time. The boy was still pulling at Goku’s pants.

Raditz smirked. “You’re not going to run from your son when he’s right there and clinging to you.” He said, hitting the nail on the head. Goku had deliberately not gone to see Gohan after saying goodbye and sending him off to his lessons that morning. Clearly Raditz did know him pretty well and had figured out a good way to stop him, Goku realized with frustration. He said nothing though, and just glared back as he slowly bent to pick Gohan up. It wasn’t easy with how pregnant he was these days. 

Quickly figuring out that Goku was a dead-end information wise, Raditz then turned his attention to Tarble who jumped as soon as Raditz spoke to him. “Maybe you will want to tell me. Or should I just get it over with and call Vegeta?”

“I-I-We were—Uh.” Tarble stammered, never good under this kind of pressure, until Goku deposited Gohan in his arms. He took his nephew, blinking at Goku with confusion.

“That won’t be necessary Raditz.” Goku said, eyeing his brother calculatingly as he slowly stood back from Tarble.

Raditz started smiling, self-satisfied thinking that he’d won, when suddenly Goku blurred out of sight. Even heavily pregnant, Goku still moved so fast that Raditz had no idea what had hit him and was out like a light before he even met the floor.

“Goku what THE HELL!?” Tarble shrieked, clutching Gohan and staring with a pale face and wide eyes at the fallen Raditz.

Instead of answering, Goku picked up Raditz’ legs and started dragging his unconscious form into the ship with a grunt. “Ugh, he’s so heavy. Tarble, help me with this. I’m not supposed to be lifting heavy things.”

“You’re not supposed to be _knocking your brother unconscious_ either!” Tarble whisper screamed even as he ran over and traded places with Goku, handing the beta his son instead.

Quickly they got Raditz inside, and Goku realized that there was nothing to do; they would just have to leave like this. Tarble had another freak out when Goku informed him of that.

“Are you crazy?! They’ll notice that Raditz and Gohan are missing in no time! We won’t get further than Zelua at this rate!”

Goku frowned, slightly distracted by putting in coordinates on the ship and keeping Gohan from pressing random buttons. “We’ll send them a message saying that Raditz chose to join, and Gohan… Uh, just tell them I didn’t want to be separated from him. They’ll probably believe that.” Everyone knew, and wondered at, how much Goku doted on his son after all. It wasn’t normal for saiyans to cuddle their children to the degree that Goku did, but quite frankly he didn’t care. It wasn’t like they weren’t capable as it as a species, just more of that ‘feelings are weakness’ nonsense that their entire culture seemed to suffer under.

Tarble was sitting hunched over in a chair and biting his nails, already resigned to what was happening but not happy about it. Gohan, noticing that his uncle was free and unoccupied, slid out of Goku’s lap and crawled up unto Tarble’s instead. “Why did daddy start playing dead with uncle Raditz?” He wondered, having not freaked out seeing his uncle get knocked out thanks to thinking it was a game.

Seeing as Tarble was a bit too shaky to come up with any good reasoning, Goku started take off procedure and then answered instead. “We’re going on a trip! Raditz and I are playing because… Uh, well, trips get long and boring if you just sit around? Actually we’re playing ‘captive’ now. Think you could tie him up for me Gohan?” Goku asked easily. “There should be energy resistant rope in the holding area.”

‘Captive’ was the game they played when training how to escape, or conversely, how to keep someone else from escaping. Gohan liked ‘hunting’ better, but that game wasn’t suited to small spaces.

“Okay!” Gohan cheered, and ran off to find some rope to tie up his unconscious uncle.

Tarble stared at Goku. “You are freaking evil.”

Goku shrugged. “Eh, I’m just being practical. Raditz will get over it… And if he doesn’t, then I’ll knock him out again when he wakes up in a couple of hours.”

It was at that moment in time, that Tarble made the mental note to himself to never, _ever_ , get on Goku’s bad side.

 

xXx

 

The lights were too bright and his neck was stiff from sitting up with his head hanging. Raditz knew the muggy feeling that came from being taken down with a hit to your vital points, and tensed when he noticed that he was also tied up. Carefully he lifted his head, expecting to find himself captive by Frieza’s forces or pirates or something, only to be met with the sight of his little brother spinning around in the captain’s chair with a wide grin, Gohan on his lap, while they both sang some horrible off beat Earth tune.

At least Tarble was still sitting off to the side and looking like a shell-shocked mess.

“What the hell Kakarot?!” Raditz tried to yell, but it came out more as a dry croak.

Goku stopped singing and spinning in the chair, instead focusing on Raditz. “…Gohan, why don’t you go get your uncle a bottle of water? He sounds thirsty.”

The little boy quickly ran off, loving to be of help these days and getting ‘jobs’. Right now he was taking a lot of clues from his alpha father on protecting and caring for his pregnant mother. But unlike when Vegeta did it, Goku actually found his son’s efforts cute.

“I don’t want water, I want some fucking answers!” Raditz growled as soon as his nephew was out of sight.

Standing up with a sigh, Goku ambled over to Raditz’ side and squatted down best as he could with his belly in the way. “Are the ropes okay? Gohan was the one to tie them you know. I think he’s getting pretty good at it.”

Raditz’ felt his forehead veins bulge out. “This is not the time to praise your son’s mercenary skills! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!?”

Goku wrinkled his nose cutely. “Calling us mercenaries is kinda rude. Technically we’re freedom fighters with occasional side jobs.” He tilted his head, a finger on his chin. “You could call us rebels?”

Not finding it funny at all and more furious with Goku than he could remember being in years, Raditz roared wordlessly in his brother’s face, spittle flying.

Goku pulled back and wiped stray spit off his face with a grimace. “Okay, okay, geez, I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

Right now Goku was reminding Raditz way too much of their equally crazy and rule disregarding father Bardock, and the comparison did nothing to calm him down. “Lightening the mood?! You’re fugitives! Kidnappers! And, if I’m not mistaking, collaborating with fucking pirates. Just what part of this is not a disaster?!!”

Figuring that he’d been found out, Goku just made a face. “Turles is still technically a commander in the Coalition, regardless of his other activities.” He stood up, dusted off his pants and smiled down at the still fuming Raditz. “Besides, we all know it’s useful to have eyes in the underworld.” He shrugged. “At least that was the reasoning I was given by my teachers.”

“If it’s any comfort to you Raditz,” Tarble piped up from the side, “Just know that I was against working with him too. Unfortunately he was the only one who could get us out from Base One and still make it seem semi-legit.”

“Semi-legit.” Raditz repeated faintly, something frightening slowly occurring to him. “Wait, does that mean… There’s no one coming to stop you?”

“Yup!” Goku confirmed happily. “Well, not yet at least. I figure we have a week before someone realizes that Tarble forged the mission objective, and by then we’ll have enough time to get where we need and back without anyone realizing where we went.”

Staring, Raditz was slow to find his voice again. “Okay, well shit…” Taking in a deep breath he rolled his shoulders and shrugged off the rope he had been working at all this time. He wasted no time getting up, muscles tensing and ready for attack now that he was free. He had no desire to fight his pregnant brother though, and forced himself to calm down. Maybe there was still a chance to talk some sense into his wayward family.  

Goku looked a bit unhappy to see him slip free. He clicked his tongue. “Tch. I guess Gohan still needs to work on his knots.” He mumbled with a critical eye on the discarded ropes.

“Knots were fine, the rope was just too loose.” Raditz assured before he caught himself and growled, firming his stance once more. “Anyway, I want some damn answers. Clearly you put more thought into your getaway this time, and seeing as you’ve hijacked me for it, I think I deserve to know why.”

Goku and Tarble shared a look. After conversing silently for a moment, Goku sighed and motioned for Raditz to sit down in a chair. “Sit down and I’ll tell you. But don’t even think about going for the controls, I’m faster than you and they’re locked anyway.”

Grumbling at being foiled in his plans before he could even think them out fully, Raditz sat down heavily in a chair. Goku meanwhile leaned against the control panel, clearly not trusting Raditz much farther than Gohan could throw him. (Goku could probably throw him into the sun should he felt like it, pregnant or not)

“So?” Raditz urged, eyebrows raised.

Crossing his arms, Goku just watched him for a moment. “We are going to save everyone on Planet Vegeta.” He finally stated, but held up a hand before Raditz could make any disbelieving remarks. “There _is_ a way to do it. We just can’t risk everyone knowing about it.”

Tarble took over the explanation. “We’re going to Earth. There’s something there, something with a lot of power that can grant wishes. We’re going to use it to help everyone, but it can be used for bad too, so it has to be kept secret.”

Well that just sounded ominous as hell. “…And that’s why you didn’t tell Vegeta.” Raditz guessed after a moment. “You think he’d misuse it somehow.”

The two other saiyans shifted uncomfortably, but Goku soon managed to find his voice. “…Not necessarily misuse it, just not be willing to part with it again perhaps…”

“To be honest, I totally think he might misuse it.” Tarble stated flatly. Both Goku and Raditz stared at him. “What?! Vegeta once shot me through the shoulder because I forgot to knock. He’s not exactly predictable!”

Rubbing his forehead where a tension headache was gathering, Raditz shook his head. “You’re both underestimating him. Vegeta might not be morally virtuous, but he wouldn’t do anything that could potentially alienate Kakarot or cause us to have a fallout with our allies. He’s way too invested and too good of a strategist for that.”

Goku snorted. “I’m not so sure about that. As long as he thinks he’s ‘protecting’ me, I think he’d do a lot of things.”

Tiredly, Raditz just watched his little brother for a moment. He was aware of the slow burning simmering spat he and Vegeta had been having for over half a year now, and frankly, he was mostly on Vegeta’s side. “Oh yea, and clearly he has _no reason whatsoever_ to be overprotective, what with you running off into PTO infested territory, heavily pregnant, with no medic or guards and relying on a man who tried to kill Vegeta in the past.”

At least Goku had the decency to wince at that, and he averted his eyes, but it didn’t look like he was even considering turning the ship around.

Tarble looked nervously between the brothers and decided to break in. “It’s already happening. I’m not saying there aren’t smarter ways to do this, but I don’t have all the information either. Only Goku knows what we’re actually going to Earth to find. He says he needs to be there, or we won’t get the help we need.”

Goku didn’t take the subtle prompt to clarify. He stayed silent, the tip of his tail ticking back and forth in an agitated way.

Raditz narrowed his eyes. “What, as a voucher?” He snorted. “Yea, because suddenly long range communication is impossible for us.” Raditz snarked. “He could have just talked with whoever on a screen.” He said the last part with a glare at his brother.

Goku glared right back, arms crossed. “In case you’ve forgotten, I was _kidnapped_ , by the man I have almost two children with nonetheless. They’re not just going to take a phone call as reassurance. I need to go there in person, or they’ll just think more crazy aliens are invading their planet.”

Raditz opened his mouth, but ended up closing it again without coming up with a comeback. It was a bit hard to dispute the past after all. “Well fine, you got me there, but you could still have brought more people, made a proper mission of it and _trusted Vegeta._ ”

Goku just turned his back on him without answering.

The tension between the three men in the room was broken when Gohan re-entered, carrying a precariously balanced tray with several bottles and glasses. Tarble jumped up to help him before the inevitable accident could happen, and Gohan ran the rest of the way over to his mother and climbed up. “Daddy, I brought for everyone! Papa says you have to drink lots for the baby.”

At his son’s words, Goku’s hard façade seemed to crumble for a moment, his emotions clear on his face. Raditz caught sight of both guilt, sadness and longing there before the beta was suddenly smiling sunnily again. “That was nice of you Gohan. I actually am kinda thirsty. Do you wanna share a glass with me?”

Gohan shook his head. “I’ll have my own. You need to drink lots. A whole glass.”

Chuckling, Goku settled down to do just that. In deference to the toddler in the room, the men didn’t discuss their journey anymore right then. Instead Goku entertained his son with stories of his childhood on Earth, while Tarble and Raditz snuck off to another corner of the ship to discuss things amongst themselves.

“Are you really okay with doing this Tarble?” Raditz asked his friend. And the younger prince was indeed his friend by now. Not only did they share a family, they also shared a mutual like of whining and complaining about them, and often found time to do so with each other. In the beginning that had been all, but these days Raditz considered Tarble as a close friend, if not his best.

It was with a conflicted expression and voice that Tarble answered. “Not really… But as I said, Goku is the only one who knows the details, and he’s surprisingly difficult to get to talk. This isn’t just some sudden notion of his Raditz, he has known about this power for _years_ , power strong enough to bring back the _dead_. But during all this time, he has never said anything about it. Not even when his own life was in danger.”

It was hard to believe that something could bring back the dead, and even harder to understand why his brother wouldn’t have told someone. Raditz frowned. “When he gave birth to Gohan… He could have died. Hell, he _did_ die for a minute before Vegeta restarted his heart. Why wouldn’t he tell anyone?!”

Tarble contemplated that for a moment. “As easygoing and see-through as he can appear, Goku keeps his cards close. He doesn’t like relying on others either, I’d say he hates it in fact.” He said slowly, as if feeling the words out. “That’s why I didn’t try to argue with him much. I was afraid that if I did, he’d cut me off completely and go it alone.”

There was too much truth to Tarble’s observations. Raditz might never have put it into words himself, but he had the same impression of his brother. “He’s too damn much like our dad. Sly and secretive.” Raditz muttered angrily. “They’re both solo players, horrible at asking for help or working together with people if they think they can do it themselves. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before… Kakarot just hides it better I guess.”

Tarble nodded unhappily, then briefly glanced towards the direction where Goku and Gohan was. “Is he still occupied?”

Raditz checked his brother’s ki. “Yea, still entertaining Gohan.”

“Okay, good.” He bent conspiratorially closer. “Listen Raditz. I brought a communicator with a direct line to Vegeta, and a tracker, just in case. I don’t want to use either unless absolutely necessary, because we don’t have all the facts and Goku might spook, but it’s in my bunk, in the bedside table. If anything happens…”

“We call him. Kakarot be damned.” Raditz agreed.

The two men nodded at each other. Their family’s safety came first, regardless of egos.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many people were like: ”Omg, Turles is going to come back! Nooo, he’s such a bastard!” That I, the only true bastard in this shit-show, just thought: You know what? Sure. Let’s bring Turles back.  
> So now he’s here as per “popular” demand.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reality check.

 

It took them almost four days to reach the ‘planet’ on the outer edge of the Milky Way that Turles and his team were using as a base. In reality, Clintox 5 was a terraformed moon circling a gas giant. It was morning on the fourth day in Galactic Standard Time, but evening on the planet when they arrived. Goku watched the red sky with his heart beating fast as he allowed the auto pilot to take control of the landing procedures and dock them. Simulators on Base One had made Goku a decent enough pilot, but he was still grateful for the automated landing, because those really weren’t his favorite.

He could feel Raditz skulking around behind him, but didn’t turn or try to talk to him. For the first time, the air between the two brothers was charged with genuine anger and disagreement. Raditz thought Goku was being careless, selfish and reckless and he didn’t have a problem with telling him so often and repeatedly. Meanwhile Goku thought that Raditz should shut up. Tarble was mostly staying out of it, only stepping in when he sensed it might come to blows. Not that Raditz would ever hit Goku while he was pregnant, which they all knew, but Goku had thought about ripping out one of the build in chairs and hitting his brother over the head with it. He wished he could blame it on just pregnancy hormones, but really it was several things.

Their journey so far had not been particularly pleasant. While they did luckily have enough food supplies, neither Raditz nor Gohan had any spare sets of clothes with them, and Goku was getting pretty tired of trying to keep his toddler semi-clean with just one outfit. On the second day Goku had actually given up and allowed Gohan to just run around naked. The ship was climate controlled, the boy was potty trained and among saiyans nakedness wasn’t even that weird anyway. Goku had spent an inordinate amount of time in his birthday suit while he still lived on Earth, finding clothes restricting. Even to this day he preferred looser fits like the tunics and harem pants he wore, especially disliking the formfitting under armor the Coalition used. This way Gohan’s clothes would also be clean when they arrived too.

Goku wasn’t in a very stable or pleasant state of mind to be around either, and though he managed to control his reactions well, his scent couldn’t lie which put the others on edge. Leaving his den this close to birth was wreaking havoc on his instincts, sending him swinging wildly between defensive aggression and whimpering neediness, missing his mate and their shared quarters fiercely. Only his relation to the other saiyans on the ship kept heads from rolling. Goku knew he would have to dig deep and subdue these instinctual reactions once they reached their destination, or he wouldn’t be able to think clearly once surrounded by people. He couldn’t remember it ever being this bad with Gohan, but of course back then Goku had been weak from power burn and spent most days in bed, snuggling up to Vegeta and trying not to contemplate his potential demise too much. He had had other things on his mind back then, and he hadn’t really been around anyone but his pack and doctors. Now that wasn’t the case, but he would just have to suck it up and get it under control.      

The biggest annoyance though, had probably been the general sour mood between the 3 adults. Goku knew Raditz was wildly against this outing, and that Tarble wasn’t as onboard as he had first seemed either. It stressed Goku to think about what they might do once they arrived, fearing that they’d try to take him back to Base One by force. In his more paranoid moments, Goku had considered recruiting Turles for the endeavor instead, but… That was plan B. Or, no, seeing as Raditz had screwed up the original strategy, it was actually plan C.

For now though, they were only a few minutes away from fresh air and some space between each other.

Or so Goku had thought, but when they finally disembarked, Gohan re-dressed and carried in Goku’s arms, both Tarble and Raditz stayed close behind him, practically breathing down his neck. Once again Goku was caught between fierce annoyance and instinctual appreciation for the protection. As a person Goku didn’t like being treated like he was weak, but as a pregnant beta without his mate and with his young cub there too… Part of him wanted to crawl into his brother’s wild mane of hair and just hide there. It was ridiculous.

“So, where is your cohort?” Raditz wondered aloud in an annoyed tone as they walked towards the barrack buildings, looking around to try and spot Turles.

It didn’t take long for them all to notice him. The commander was waiting for them close to the entrance, and melted out of the shadows cast there by the evening sun as they neared. “I see you made it in one piece.” He greeted them all, but his eyes were only focused on Goku.

Turles looked the beta over hungrily. He might have seen him briefly on a screen, but reality was always different, and Turles had to admit that four years had done absolutely nothing to diminish Kakarot’s allure, even if the beta seemed as unaware of it as ever. Kakarot was still fair skinned, black haired and honey-eyed, but his facial features were a bit more defined, cheekbones a tad sharper though his mouth was still plush and soft looking. His arms and shoulders were broader, muscles more well-defined, and he seemed to have gained a couple of inches in height. The fact that he was carrying a toddler on his hip, and was round with child, did very little to distract from how delicious he looked and how fertile he smelled. Hell, the proof of that fertility was staring Turles in the face, literally.

Of course Turles had heard of the little prince, and upon the declaration of his birth, had tried not to feel too bitter. If things had gone just a bit different, Gohan could have been Turles cub instead of Vegeta’s. In fact, if it wasn’t for the black eyes the little boy was watching him carefully with, exactly like his royal father’s, Gohan could have easily passed for being Turles’ thanks to taking mostly after Kakarot in the looks department.

“Are we just going to stand here all day?” Raditz snapped, bringing Turles out of his observations. In reality taking Kakarot and his son in hadn’t taken more than a few seconds, but Turles doubted that his regard had gone unnoticed.

“Ahh, Raditz. There’s one face I didn’t miss.” Turles said with a lazy grin, before focusing on Goku again. “Say, I thought you were only bringing Tarble? Your group is a bit larger than expected.”

Goku shifted from one foot to another and frowned. “It wasn’t planned. Will it be a problem?” He asked, clearly concerned.

Turles almost told him no to assure him, but thought better of it. He didn’t want Kakarot to leave right away if he could help it. No, he was far too curious to know what had sent a beta at the end of his pregnancy running like this. It simply wasn’t normal. “Hmm, not with a few adjustments it won’t. It’ll take a little while though, so you’ll have to bear with staying for a couple more hours than planned.”

Goku didn’t look particularly pleased at the prospect, but he didn’t complain. “This is a trade post, isn’t it?” The beta asked then, which was a bit of a non sequitur. When Turles confirmed, he seemed relieved. “That’s good. Neither Raditz or Gohan have any more clothes than they’re wearing. I’m sure the barracks have spare sets of armor for Raditz, but I need to do some shopping for this one.” Goku said, bouncing the toddler who was still staring unnervingly at Turles, dark eyes fixed and fathomless. For a moment Turles felt almost like he was being glared at by Vegeta instead of his son. He didn’t appreciate the reminder.

“Well I’m sure we can find something for him while Raditz goes and gets fitted.” Turles offered lightly, gesturing towards the direction of the city markets. Luckily this trade post never really slept, the red lanterns ever bright in the night, even if a big part of the ‘trade’ involved physical services more than goods.

“I’m not leaving my brother with you.” Raditz growled, tail fur fluffed and one heavy hand resting on Goku’s shoulder. The beta shrugged him off. “Just go get fitted Raditz. Tarble is still here, but Turles knows the area. It’ll be faster with him showing the way.”

Turles smirked superiorly at Raditz, but was quietly surprised by how steady and efficient Kakarot sounded giving orders. He didn’t seem much like the bumbling, culturally confused teen Turles had first met years ago. Still as reckless as ever though.

It took a bit of arguing, but finally Raditz left after sending one last venomous glare in Turles’ direction. The commander just watched him go with a smile, before turning his focus back on the remaining royals. “Shall we?” He asked, taking a step closer to Goku and looking him over once more. “Can you still fly?” Turles wondered in a neutral tone, not trying to insult, simply wanting to know how affected the beta was by his condition.

“I’ll fly close to Tarble. It’ll be fine.” Goku replied.

“And the little one?” Turles wondered.

“He can fly too.”

Well, Turles wasn’t terribly surprised by that, given the boy’s lineage. Still, almost four was very young to have mastered such a thing. Turles hadn’t failed to notice the energy suppressers wrapped around the boy’s wrists though, and privately wondered about the story there. Normally those were only used on kids in case of power burn, but if that had been the case, then Kakarot wouldn’t have been alive right now.

“Follow me then.” Turles told them and took off, mind still working on how to get Kakarot on his own somehow. Even if he hadn’t still been fascinated by the beta, Turles still wanted to know just what kind of mess he had gotten himself mixed into.

xXx

The markets around here gave more the feel of back alley dealings and a high likelihood of pickpockets than anything else, but no one bothered them or crowded close when they landed, the various sellers and dodgy looking clientele staying well away as soon as they spotted Turles. The commander led their group with Goku walking right behind him and Tarble, who was hiding his visage with a cloak, bringing up the rear. Tarble might not have done much to earn infamy, but he looked just like his older brother who had.

Turles guided them deftly through the cluttered narrow pathways, clearly used to the chaos. Meanwhile Goku took the chance to observe him. What had surprised him most was that Turles still appeared to have two arms, even though that wasn’t necessarily true. Taking their technology into account, one could easily be biomechanical. Gohan was watching Turles like a hawk too, something Goku wondered about. “Hey buddy, what’s up?” Goku whispered to his son, wrapping his own tail calmingly around his son.

Gohan clung closer with a frowny pout. “Who is he?” The boy asked, still glaring at Turles’ back. “I don’t like him, daddy. I don’t like how he smells.”

 _‘Like father like son’_ Goku thought. Gohan had probably picked up the scent of Turles’ interest, which the commander hadn’t bothered to hide. Even if the kid didn’t recognize the scents and signs consciously, his instincts probably did, and the little alpha definitely didn’t appreciate an adult male aside from his father showing any interest in his pregnant mother. “That’s Turles. Don’t worry about it Gohan, we’re not staying long.”

Gohan just huffed, wrapped his arms more firmly around Goku’s neck and continued watching the interloper.

If Turles had noticed the hostility, he was choosing to ignore it. “Here we a—Oh shit.” Suddenly he moved back, closer to Goku so that the beta was almost completely hidden behind his back. “Here comes trouble. Follow my lead, and whatever you do, don’t lie. She can tell.”

Goku held onto Gohan more firmly and unconsciously fisted a hand in the back of Turles’ cape, while staring past his shoulder with wide eyes. Behind him he felt Tarble’s ki briefly flaring before his brother in law moved closer too, head down as to not get noticed.

A small procession was coming towards them, moving slowly through the narrow street. Several kinds of being in colorful but revealing clothes, jewelry and feathers, and at the center of the myriad of colors; a woman with the torso of a human and the bottom like…

Goku felt his stomach churn and moved closer to the alpha in front of him. Whatever else he thought of Turles, he made a nice shield. Goku wasn’t squeamish about insects per say, but even he got the crawlies out of watching someone with the lower body of a giant black, 8 limbed spider. From her navel up she had pale skin, almost like a human’s, just too paper thin, and in her face was six completely red eyes, 3 on each side, all gleaming like rubies. Her lips shone an artificial blood red and her fangs gleamed when she smiled at them. “Thuuurles…” Her voice was a rattling whisper.

“Baracone.” Turles greeted her evenly. “It’s not often that you crawl out from your hole. Do you have some issue suddenly? I’d think my soldiers were smart enough to stick to our agreements.”

She tittered. It was eerie. “A little friend told me you had company.” She leaned around to peek behind Turles’ back at Goku, who stared back defiantly. “Is _this_ why none of my boys or girls can tempt you inside my parlor?” She asked, her red eyes taking Goku in.

“He’s one of the reasons, yes.” Turles replied, still seemingly relaxed. Goku doubted that calm ran very deep. Clearly this woman was in some position of power here, and clearly Turles didn’t want to fall out with her, though Goku could only guess at the reason.

“Hmm, and what is your name pretty one?” She asked, attention still on Goku.

Turles tensed almost imperceptibly, and Goku remembered: No lying. Yet clearly telling her his name was Kakarot would not be a good idea. “…Goku.” He replied after a moment. It was his name after all, just not his saiyan one.

“Gokuuu? Strange name, for a saiyan.” Yet clearly she had heard no lie, or sensed it, however that worked, and somehow giving her his name seemed to make her loose interest in him. Turles cast a quick glance over his back, confused. He had never heard Goku’s Earth name before. “Why bring your mate and children here Turles? The fighting draws ever closer.” Baracone asked, voice growing momentarily distant as she gazed upwards, almost as if she could see the battle.

Letting Baracone keep her assumptions luckily wasn’t lying. “Our errands are our own. Now was there something else you wanted?” Turles asked, voice a tad less friendly.

“I heard we had interesting guests, though I was assured it was someone else.” She sounded annoyed at the last part. “Never mind. It was curious to see this one too… His bonds go in many directions, but they are faint. Be careful of your treasure, Turles, or the darkness will claim him.” With that last cryptic message Baracone and her minions turned again and disappeared into the shadows.

The saiyans watched them leave in silence. Only a few minutes after they were out of sight did Turles finally make the sign to show talking was safe.

There were many things Goku wanted to know, but firstly: “Who was _that_?”

“Baracone is the unofficial ‘queen’ of this moon.” Turles told them. “She pulls the strings in her own little part of the underworld, and nothing goes by here she doesn’t know about. I have a deal with her to ignore me and my business, but… Well, she’s an information broker. Clearly she thought someone else could pay more.” Which Turles wouldn’t be likely to forget any time soon. Baracone was about to lose a lot of business, one way and the other.   

“So that’s why you didn’t want her to know my n—“

“Yes.” Turles cut Goku off before he could finish. “And now we’re leaving. I need to have a chat with you ‘Goku’. Your companion can take care of the cub and groceries.”

Not everyone was in favor of this idea. Tarble, who had been quiet until now, suddenly spoke up, his voice a growl. “If you think I’m letting you leave with him you’re delusional.” With his voice like that and face twisted in a snarl, Tarble almost managed to look completely like Vegeta. There seemed to be a lot of that going around today.

“If you think it’s a good idea he stays here a moment longer, you’re the crazy one.” Turles countered. “Now hop to it. There are ears everywhere around here, and it would seem I can’t trust my agreements.”

Tarble snarled, but Goku placed a calming hand on his arm. Tempers had been running high for several days now, but this was not the time to find an outlet. Tarble calmed down and looked at Goku searchingly. “You can’t seriously be okay with going with him.” He said after searching his brother in law’s eyes for a moment.

“I’ll be fine. Just take care and be quick.” Goku said, while handing a whining Gohan over to his uncle. Then he turned and nodded at Turles. “Lead the way.” He had always suspected he wouldn’t get through meeting with Turles without explaining some things. Luckily Turles did not have the ability to tell lies.

Turles held out his hand for Goku to take, but Goku ignored it and set off into the air by himself. He wasn’t _that_ weakened. With a huff the commander shared one last glare with Tarble before following.

They touched down on an outcropping of rock overlooking the city, then walked until they were in the shade of the sparse trees and out of sight. Then, finally, Goku turned around. “So what do you want Turles?”

“Nothing I can have it seems.” Turles replied, his dark eyes fixed on Goku’s but his mouth turned down at the corners.

Goku tensed up briefly. “Why bring it up at all then?” He asked carefully.

Turles shrugged and sent him a half smile, his severe expression disappearing like a could from the sun. “Why not? Might as well get it out there instead of having it hang around awkwardly in the background.” He turned fully to face Goku, eye contact steady. “So I’ll put it clearly. I still want you. Hell, I’d take your kids in too if you’d give me half a chance.”

That was no small offer from a saiyan alpha. They might have left the practice of killing their rivals’ cubs to steal their mates in the past around the same time they learned to walk on two legs, but a hint of the instinct was still there, and they all knew it. Like with other species, having young kept a beta from going into heat for a while, and was as such detrimental for a new alpha. Luckily they were not animals.  

Goku had nothing to say to this really. Not in regards to himself at least, since Turles seemed to understand where they stood. He was offering, as always, but that seemed to be all. “…I really do hope you’ll find someone, you know? You’re kinda an ass, but so’s Vegeta, and things turned out alright with him.” _For the most part at least_ , Goku added but didn’t say.

Turles sent him a half-smile. “I doubt I’ll ever find anyone who can measure up to you. And besides, even if I know my chances, a part of me can’t seem to give up.”

They let that statement hang in the air between them for a long moment. Turles seemed pretty unapologetic about his continued regard for him, and it wasn’t like Goku could suddenly say something that would make the other man give up after over four years. Goku supposed that part of why it was so hard for Turles to let go could be because it had been a pretty close run between him and Vegeta for a little while. But where Turles had only known how to push, and had done so at the wrong times, Vegeta had shown more patience and had slowly reeled Goku closer, letting him come on his own – which in the end had made all the difference. Goku was aware that both alphas had gone into courting him with the mindset of going into battle, but it had still told him something about their personalities, unconscious as he might have been about that at the time. And quarrel or not, Goku had chosen Vegeta, which he didn’t regret.  

Turles clapped his hand, which broke the mood. “Well, much as I’d rather make out with you against a tree, we do actually have important shit to discuss.” He turned his head and watched the distant lights of the city. “That Baracone… I really hadn’t counted on her showing up. I suppose someone spotted you and connected you to one of your wanted posters, even though I’m doing my best to keep that shit off the walls so to speak. Luckily she didn’t seem to think a saiyan beta would run around without their mate nearby this close to birth, and Gohan could pass for mine if you don’t look too closely, which probably helped.” He turned to Goku again. “Which leads me to my next question though. What the hell are you doing running around right now? I knew you were pregnant, but this is cutting it pretty close, don’t you think? Just what have I gotten myself dragged into, huh, ‘Goku’?”

Goku folded his hands over his belly where his son was kicking up a storm right now. “I can’t tell you. I didn’t even tell Vegeta.”

“Yea, but he’s not the one risking his ass for you either.” Turles countered. “We both know that you’re using my regard for you right now. You _know_ that’s why I went along with helping you.”

Goku looked away at the accusation.

Turles took a deep breath. “I’m not blaming you for that, I’d have done the same, but could you at least give me a gauge as to how much shit I’m gonna land in over this?” He took a step closer, his expression slowly melting into something close to concern. “And… I know it’s not my place, but please tell me this isn’t as dangerous as it seems. Baracone might be a two-faced bitch, but she has the abilities to see the bonds between people, and they grow faint to her when someone is threading a path leading them towards death.”

Goku’s eyes widened and he drew in a startled breath as Bardock’s words flashed across his mind. _“That planet has a blue sky, doesn’t it? You_ _cannot_ _go there. Do you understand me?!”_

Slowly Goku licked his lips and tried to steady his wildly beating heart. It didn’t have to mean anything; the future wasn’t set in stone. Bardock had seen him dying during Gohan’s birth too, and that hadn’t come to pass. This didn’t have to either. “I’ll be fine. If someone tries to give me trouble, I’m not exactly defenseless.” Goku said, sounding self-secure as he brushed off Turles’ worry. “I’m not sure how much trouble you’ll get in, if any. It depends on whether Vegeta figures out that you’ve helped me or not. If he does then… You might wanna take a vacation until I’m safely home again.” Goku admitted with a small wince.

Turles didn’t look particularly satisfied with this answer. “I’m used to running circles around the elites’ tempers, but again, I want to know the reason. Clearly you haven’t told anyone but the two you brought along, and that’s quite the gamble to take these days. Am I wrong?” When Goku shook his head slowly, Turles took several steps closer. “What. Are. You. Up to?”

Goku backed up slightly, but kept their eye contact steady. “I can’t tell you.”

Eyes narrowing, Turles didn’t move away, if anything he seemed to loom even more over Goku’s form. Something dark suddenly ignited in his eyes, and the sight made Goku take an unconscious step backwards.

His back came up against a tree. Goku only had half a second to realize his predicament before Turles was suddenly there, arms on both sides of him and caging Goku in between his body and the trunk of the tree. Goku froze, his body locking up. “Turles, stop, what are you—“

A hand quickly covered his mouth and another one caught his wrists when he raised them to push Turles away. The alpha held him fast, his dark grey eyes watching Goku struggle against the hold with an almost cold expression. Goku was fast to realize that he couldn’t get free. While he wasn’t as bad off as he’d been with Gohan, pregnancy still left him significantly drained, and Turles had always been almost as strong as both him and Vegeta…

“Don’t bother. The reminder I got from my fight with Vegeta is good for one thing… My new hand can suppress energy, thanks to the wonders of technology.” Turles told him as he leaned closer. “Not that I need to right now. But oh, didn’t you say something about being ‘not defenseless’?” He chuckled darkly.   

Goku’s unease started giving way to dread. The way Turles was looking at him was scary… And his scent was suddenly tinged with lust and aggression. It made Goku’s hair stand on end, his instincts screaming at the threat of an alpha who wasn’t his mate or family getting this near. Why was Turles doing this?

The alpha pressed closer and the sudden proximity made icy fear sizzle down Goku’s back. He turned wild eyes on Turles, not understanding, but fearing that he’d made a mistake. Had Turles been hiding his true intentions, planning this all along?

At the sight of Goku’s wild gaze, Turles’ mouth stretched into a slow grin. “Ah, now you’re getting it.” He said. “You know, it’s shocking how naïve you still are, even after being embroiled in a war for several years.” Turles noted conversationally as he started pressing a knee between Goku’s legs, ignoring the smell of fear that had started seeping off his captive.

“It’s like you’ve gone out of your way to make the perfect target of yourself. Weakened, cut off from your allies, cut off from help. Hell, you even brought along a perfect hostage to use against you.” The pirate told him, gaze flickering to Goku’s belly and back to his eyes. Goku paled, and Turles smirked. “What were you hoping for exactly, coming to a planet of whores and pirates with a bounty of millions on your head, while unable to defend yourself?”

Goku screamed behind Turles hand, all reason fleeing his mind as soon as the commander insinuated he’d hurt his child. Where before he had starting going limp, Goku now kicked out wildly, hitting Turles’ legs, but it did pathetically little. Instead Turles took the opportunity to press in between Goku’s thigs with a smirk. “I’ve always wanted you writhing against me Kakarot. What if I simply took you like this, what would you do then? Or is this also a part of your little plan? Do you actually want this?” He bent closer, smile brushing Goku’s ear as he whispered. “You should really have put more effort into staying safe.”

Panic clouded Goku’s head. This couldn’t be happening, no. No no no _no_! He twisted and tried to gather energy in his hands, despite the futility and the terror coursing through him. Turles would hurt him, he’d hurt Goku’s _baby_ , he would—

Suddenly Turles body pressing against his was gone and Goku’s knees buckled. He fell to the ground, but only let the disorientation stop him for a moment before he was back up, energy now gathering unobstructed in his scraped palms, ready to blast the hell out of Turles who…

Who was standing several feet away and watching him casually?

It was so jarring, such a contrast to seconds before when he had been baring down on Goku, ready to force himself on him, that Goku almost paused. He didn’t extinguish the blazing energy in his hands though. “You _bastard!_ ” Goku hissed after refocusing, taking a threatening step closer. He felt a telling wetness cooling on his cheeks and realized that he had cried from fear.    

Turles lifted an eyebrow. “Did that give you some sense of reality?” He asked, doing nothing as Goku once more came to a stop.

“Wh—What do you mean?” Goku stammered, adrenaline still pumping, not understanding why Turles had stopped. He’d had Goku cornered. Why let him go?

The commander crossed his arms and watched him disapprovingly, as if Goku was the one who had just done something horrendous. “I was giving you a sense of what could _very easily_ happen right now.” He growled, then rubbed his eyes tiredly as if Goku was trying his patience. “Everything I just said? Completely true. It’s like you’re not thinking. Never mind not telling me what the fuck you’re up to, clearly the objective of whatever it is has you completely blinded to the dangers around you.” He looked up again. “Or perhaps Vegeta really did wrap you in a bubble all these years.”

Chest still heaving, Goku fought to stay steady on his feet, world still turning and instincts sure there was danger to come, even if Turles had left himself completely open to attack. Probably a deliberate move on the commander’s part. “Wha- what are you saying? You we’re going to—“

“I wasn’t going to do anything.” Turles said, still annoyed. “You only needed to think I would.” He looked Goku over, eyes sharp as he took in the beta’s still shaking features. “ So? Tell me. Did that little display jar your eyes open?”

Goku didn’t understand anything right now. His head was still spinning too much for him to think past the constant ‘danger, danger’ siren going on in his mind.

And then suddenly it didn’t seem like he had to think anymore.

From one second to the next, Tarble appeared, ki blazing as he touched down in front of Goku hard enough to crack the rock ground, cloak fluttering around him as the younger prince let loose a truly furious snarl, fangs glinting as he bared them at Turles.

At the same time small arms wrapped themselves around Goku’s neck and Gohan’s cries of “Daddy!” filled his ears. Goku finally extinguished his build up ki shots and pulled his son close, taking a shuddering half sob into his little shoulder. The boy was letting out a continuous low growl, the sound mixing with the deeper more dangerous version his uncle was making.

“What the _hell_ do you think you’re doing you piece of crap?!” Tarble roared, managing to look like a more deranged version of his brother, energy still blazing and frothing at the mouth. You didn’t threaten Tarble’s family, not unless you wanted to find out just why the man could still call himself a prince of Vegeta.

“I was trying to scare some sense into him, seeing as he clearly left whatever he had back at Base One.” Turles answered snarkily, even though he was no longer in the same defenseless stance as before.

“Scare me?” Goku repeated faintly, safely situated behind his brother in law. Tarble was reminding him enough of Vegeta right now to calm Goku down considerably. Tinged with aggression like this, Tarble’s scent was even somewhat close to his brother’s, close enough that Goku could imagine the rest. Gohan’s presence helped too, and slowly Goku’s brain stopped flashing the warning message and let him actually think. It wasn’t quite enough for him to reach an understanding though. One minute they had been talking, and the next Turles had… “Why?” Goku asked.

Still keeping an eye on Tarble who hadn’t stopped growling yet, Turles slowly raised his hands in a ‘I mean no harm’ pose, clearly realizing that the other alpha wouldn’t calm down easily. He kept talking though. “Because it seems more like you’re treating this as some impromptu fieldtrip than a serious breach of security. As I said, you’re not thinking. This plan of yours looks to have more holes in it than a strainer, and that’s before taking into account just how unaware you are of your surroundings.”

Turles finally dared look away from Tarble to watch Goku instead. He observed him in silence for a long moment. “…This wasn’t how I wanted to part ways, but it was the only way I could think of knocking some sense into you. Remember what happened here today. That fear and confusion you felt when I suddenly turned on you? Remember it well. Stop being careless and stay on guard. You’re not on Base One anymore; you have no allies, everyone is your enemy.” He took a step closer, expression hard. “Out here no one will spare you just because you’re with child.”

Turles’ words had slowly made Tarble stop growling, and he was now standing up again instead of crouching to launch an attack, but his anger was still there. “What were you thinking, scaring a pregnant beta like that?!”

“As I just said, his condition won’t save him. I was thinking rather me than some other asshole who actually meant it.” He answered, then looked directly at Goku. “You froze up when I got you cornered. That was instinct. Unconsciously you know you can’t fight while you’re this pregnant, so you didn’t even try, not until I let you go and moved away. But that’s your reality.” Turles told him. “So don’t let it happen again. Keep thinking, even when you’re afraid. Don’t stop fighting.”

Goku watched him back silently, unable to say anything, still hurt and shocked and, yes, somewhat scared. He had never frozen during a fight before, had never panicked this clearly or stopped thinking either. He had struggled against Turles’ hold, but it had been feeble, with no real technique. Until now Goku had been working under the assumption that, albeit pregnant, he could still fight. He hadn’t thought it would make much difference… This was an uncomfortable and very jarring reality check.

Still staying quiet Goku looked down, shoulders dropping, and reached out to fist the back of Tarble’s robe for some feeling of safety.

Turles just watched him. “I see you get it.” He said, then turned and walked towards the cliff edge. “I won’t tell you sorry. I’m not going to coddle you like Vegeta does, not if this keeps you from running to your own death.” He looked at Tarble then, who was still glaring back at him with contempt. “Your ship should be ready now, and Raditz is probably waiting for you there. Get going. I have rumors to clean up here, or you’ll have a whole slew of bounty hunters after you.”

Tarble bared his teeth at him one last time, then turned and took Goku’s hand gently. “Come on Goku. Let’s get you back, okay?”

Goku just nodded in a subdued way and hugged his little son closer before letting Tarble pull him into the air.

“Come back alive.” Turles told him quietly, as a last parting, just before they left. Goku didn’t answer or look back, but he felt Turles’ eyes following them as they flew back towards the base.

The commander stayed behind on the cliff, arms crossed as he watched the royal family disappear into the orange tinted night sky.

 

xXx

 

Raditz was whistling, in a relatively good mood after getting some clean underwear and a bit of peace and quiet after several days. That only lasted until the time Tarble entered the ship bridge with Goku in tow and Raditz got a good look at his little brother’s face. Suddenly it didn’t matter that Raditz had been pissed with him for days; he was across the room and cupping Goku’s cheeks before he had even consciously decided to move. “You’ve been crying. What the fuck did that bastard do?!” He growled, taking in Goku’s pale color, the lingering scent of fear and the damming tear-tracks.

Goku blinked up at him, honey brown eyes bloodshot before they started filling with tears again. “Raditz…” He said weakly, then collapsed into his big brother’s chest for a hug. Raditz wasted no time wrapping his arms around his faintly shuddering little brother, his nephew still in Goku’s arms and as such caught between them. “Raditz, I’m sorry.”

“What?” Raditz asked, too busy mentally planning Turles’ murder to really get what his brother was saying.

“I’m sorry.” Goku repeated in a choked voice. “All this time you’ve been telling me I was being careless, and I didn’t listen, I thought…” He trailed off and smothered a frustrated sob. The adrenaline crash coupled with hormones was not fun. “I didn’t think. I thought I could still fight like normal, that I’d be fine even alone, but…”

Raditz stroked his hair, actually listening now. “But?” He prompted.

“I’m not fine.” Goku admitted. He wanted to go home. He wanted Vegeta. He would let his mate surround him with a whole army of guards and a force shield if it meant Goku could cuddle up safely and fall asleep without worries weighing him down to the point where it felt like he was drowning. Despite thinking this though, Goku only let himself rest against Raditz for a minute or so until he had gathered himself, then he stepped back and wiped his eyes, determination once again growing in his gaze. He still felt shaky, but he wasn’t letting this stop him. Not now. “I’m not fine.” He repeated. “But we’re still doing this. I won’t try to do it alone anymore though, I promise.”

Raditz looked over at Tarble and was startled to see the fierce scowl his normally placid friend was wearing. “What _happened_?” Raditz asked, a bit disorientated.

Still upset, Tarble actually cursed when he spoke. “Turles deliberately scared the crap out of him in some fucked up attempt at caring.” He said, voice dark. “The damn moron could have caused him to go into early labor.”

Raising an eyebrow, Raditz looked back at Goku for confirmation. The beta nodded. Gohan was still clinging to his mother’s neck, silent but wearing a scowl that could surpass his father’s. “He made mommy cry.” The toddler growled, falling into calling Goku ‘mom’ in his upset stage.

Well, now Raditz just wanted to bash Turles’ head in even more. Goku, who was slowly becoming the calmest person in the room with how the alpha men in his family was feeding and flaming each other’s aggression, decided to walk over to the control panel and start takeoff procedure before his brother and brother in law could get any ideas. “I really need something to eat and drink and to sit down before my blood sugar crashes.” He threw out, both because it was the truth and because he knew it would turn his family’s minds from ‘murder’ to ‘caretaking’. “But I need one of you to check the ship for trackers or other spyware first.”

As expected, both of these statements brought the others out of their growling, muscle flexing fugue. “Trackers?” Raditz repeated. “This isn’t a Coalition ship though.”

“No, but it’s _Turles’_ ship, and he’s awfully curious about what we’re doing.” Goku said darkly, still hurt by Turles’ actions even though those were what had finally broken through to him.

There was a small argument between the alphas about who would take care of Goku, before Raditz, being the most technologically savy, finally went for the first circuit of the ship. Tarble would take one later, just in case Raditz missed anything in the first round. Meanwhile Goku was practically carried to a cot and then covered in blankets and pillows by his son while Tarble turned up with one plate of food after the other. Goku let them coddle him, but also let himself enjoy the care, for once admitting that he actually needed it a bit right now.

When Tarble finally went for his checkup of the ship, Goku padded the mattress next to him until Gohan abandoned his quest for more blankets and crawled up to him. Goku pulled his son closer and ran a hand down his back until Gohan’s tail wrapped around his wrist. “I’m sorry buddy…” He hated that Gohan had seen him like that, afraid and crying. “Were you scared?”

Gohan shook his head and pulled back enough to fix his mother with a serious gaze. “No. I was _angry_.” He informed him. “But uncle Tarble said I had to take care of you instead of fighting, or Turd-les would have gotten it.”

“Turd-les?” Goku repeated. Truly a four year old’s attempt at bad-talking someone; Goku couldn’t help chuckling.

“I mean it daddy!” Gohan argued, thinking Goku wasn’t taking him seriously. “I would have done like papa and pow-whosh!” He made sound effects as he waved his fists around. “I’d have decked him in the snout.”

This time Goku couldn’t help laughing. He pressed his face into Gohan’s hair until he could breathe past his amusement again. “Did you pick that phrase up from Dilla?”

“From grandma!” Gohan responded proudly.

“Of course.” Gine was exactly the type of person to threaten to deck someone in the snout. Goku carded his fingers through Gohan’s already long hair. According to Vegeta, saiyans’ hair was actually more like fur and would only grow to a certain length and shape, only replenishing whatever strands were lost. With long haired types like Raditz and Gohan, it was a bit hard to tell how their hair pattern would turn out before they were fully grown though. Raditz hadn’t had an almost 5 feet mane of hair when he had been a kid; it had grown as he did. Right now Gohan’s pattern seemed to be turning out much like his uncle’s though, but with bangs very reminiscent of Goku’s. It made him wonder what his next child would look like. “You know, your brother was kicking up a storm earlier. Do you want to talk to him?”

Gohan eagerly agreed and scooted down. He placed his hands on Goku’s belly and started explaining to his unborn sibling what had happened that day, and why you should never put your thumb inside your fist when hitting someone. Goku closed his eyes and let himself drift off to his oldest son’s babbling while his youngest kicked lightly against his right side every now and then, as if communicating to his older brother that he was listening.

If he pulled his blankets firmly enough around himself, Goku could almost imagine Vegeta lying behind him like he often did back home, chuckling into his neck at their son’s stories while his broad warm hand ran over Goku’s belly. The fantasy made his chest clench.

Soon they would pass through a jump gate, a possibility that had only become available to them after allying with the Galactic Patrol, which would cut down their week long travel time to only a couple of days.

Very soon, Goku would be back on Earth and father away from his mate than he had been in years.

 

xXx

 

**Three days later, many lightyears away:**

 

Vegeta rolled his neck until it cracked and then tried to focus back on the work in front of him. He was saved from interpreting the practically dancing letters by an officer carefully summoning his attention. “What?” Vegeta muttered, too tired to focus properly on the man. When was the last time he had slept? He didn’t remember. He had gotten nothing but naps since leaving, and these days he slept badly when away from Kakarot anyways, unable to calm down when his mate wasn’t within guarding distance.

The officer was saying something, sounding panicked enough that Vegeta guessed he should try to understand it. “Repeat that.”

“I-it’s from Base One sir. When you sent the last rapport for prince Tarble to look over, they informed us that he, prince Kakarot and prince Gohan were not on the base.”

“What.” Vegeta said flatly. He shook his head. “What?” He repeated, in a more disbelieving tone. Kakarot wasn’t scheduled for any missions right now, not being seven damn months pregnant, almost eight now actually.

“Uh, apparently they left the same day as you sir. They’ve been gone ever since, but the thing is, the Base sorta lost communications with them after the first couple of hours…”

Vegeta sat very, very still. “No.” He said, as if that statement of denial would make it untrue. The officer started offering him platitudes, but Vegeta was finding it difficult to hear. His ears were ringing. His palms grew clammy beneath his gloves and his heart started thundering away. “Shut up!” Vegeta yelled, jumping out of his chair and brushing away the paperwork so it ended up all over the floor. He stalked forward until he reached the ship controls, the soldiers on deck quickly getting out of the way.

“Put me through to Base One right now! I want a damn explanation of how the fuck I was not informed as soon as my _pregnant mate_ disappeared in space, and after that I want whoever is left alive to start a priority search right this fucking minute.” He demanded, pointing at a random terrified officer who jumped to it. “And get me Raditz! If anyone knows what’s going on, it’s him.”

“Uhm, sir… Raditz is missing too.”

For a moment Vegeta saw red, and when he came to, the captain’s chair and a good part of the flooring had been incinerated. Vegeta stared at the smoking melted plastic and metal for a moment, then turned to his crew again. “Priority search, now. And turn us towards their last known coordinates.”

Once again his orders were immediately followed, and Vegeta stalked over so he could lean against the wall while he listened to the engines humming through the ship as they were forced into jump speed. “Kakarot… Kakarot…” He muttered, his hands shaking as he tried to keep the last strands on his control from slipping. If he blew up his ship, he couldn’t go after him. Vegeta had to remember that.

What the fuck was Kakarot doing? And the rest of Vegeta’s family too, why?!

That one word kept repeating itself to him in an endless loop as they entered hyperspace and the stars turned to nothing but white streaks and then darkness.

Why?        

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vegeta is already sleep deprived and stressed as hell, and things are only going to get worse for him from now on.
> 
> On a completely different note; It’s my birthday! I spent all day eating pancakes with bacon and drinking red soda with my friends, because we might be adults, but that’s not going to stop us from having a children’s birthday party.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very serious chapter. Totally.  
> Also very shittily edited. Sorry. I tried. I’m tired.

Ironically, despite looking forward to returning for over four years, Goku was asleep when they drew close enough to view the blue planet he once called home. He was curled up in his cot, on his side, which was the only way for him to be semi comfortable these days, when Raditz stuck his head in.

The older saiyan learned on the doorjamb and watched his sleeping little brother for a long moment. Goku looked soft and defenseless, curled up around his blankets like that, and Raditz really didn’t want to bring him to a strange alien planet. Not as an experienced soldier or an alpha, and certainly not as an older brother. Yet going back through space to reach Base One was its own version of nerve wracking.

Perhaps subconsciously feeling that he was being watched, Goku mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep and rolled over, only to wake up with a groan when it caused his baby to press down on his bladder.

“Hey.” Raditz said, knocking lightly against the doorjamb to catch his brother’s attention. “We’re almost there. You need to come out and tell us where to land, or Tarble’s just gonna touch us down in a field somewhere.”

With some struggle, Goku got himself unwrapped from his blanket nest and sat up while blinking drowsily at Raditz. “Whu…? Uh, no. Don’t do that.” He mumbled and tried to get up. A cramp and some labored breathing later, Goku allowed Raditz, who had instantly been at his side, to help him up. “Thanks. Urgh. False contractions…” He complained, which only caused his older brother’s worry lines to grow deeper. Things were getting too close for Raditz’ tastes.

“Anyway… Where was I? Right, landing.” Goku mused out loud, still groggy, as he sat a course for the toilet. “We don’t wanna make a fuss, so… don’t enter their airspace anywhere people might see. Aim for the ocean – we can find an empty island somewhere for the ship and then fly from there.”

“Should you be flying anymore?” Raditz asked worriedly as he followed at Goku’s heels.

Goku just rolled his eyes, but then happened to catch his brother’s expression, noticing how pale he actually looked. Despite his full bladder, Goku stopped to frown. “You look pale… Paler than usual. Is something wrong?”

“Aside from the obvious?” Raditz snarked, but then ran a hand through his hair with a nervous expression. “…We passed, not one, but _two_ damn PTO ships on the way here, one scouter class and one small battle cruiser. One briefly hailed us, but stopped once it noticed our ship model. We’re fucking lucky Turles chose this ship for us – it’s infamous for being used by pirates. I’m not sure what would have happened otherwise…”

Goku went still, but his hand clenched around the door. “I see.”

“Not you don’t fucking see. That’s the whole reason we’re here in the first place.” Raditz snapped, but then forced himself to calm down. Yelling at this point was futile. “Just do your business and come to the bridge. We’re landing in twenty minutes.”

Goku looked down and bit his lip, but let Raditz walk away without saying anything. What could he possibly say that he hadn’t already?

xXx

Somehow, Goku had always pictured his return to Earth happening during the summer, maybe because it had been a pleasantly warm and sunny day in May when Vegeta had shown up and taken him. Gohan had also been born in May, almost exactly a year later. If the calculations Tarble had made when comparing Earth’s calendar against Galactic standard were correct, then it was end January now.

The wind was nippy when they stepped outside, but Goku didn’t care. With a laugh he jumped down the ramp, floated, and landed gently on the green grass. Grinning, he threw his head back and smiled up at the blue sky and the pale winter sun. He breathed in the air, the scents of the sea and the forest were so familiar, and sighed when he heard the distant sound of waves crashing against rocks on the island. He was back. He was truly, really, back!

“…Daddy?”

Goku turned around to see Gohan clinging to Raditz’ leg. The little boy was wide-eyed and gumming nervously on his tiny fist, his tail hanging low with unease and its fur slightly fluffed. So far he didn’t have the best memories of landing on new planets with his daddy. The first time his papa had shown up and had been really angry, and when they landed on the last place, another strange alpha had been there and had attacked his daddy.

Still smiling, Goku went to pick up his son, only for Raditz to do so first and hand him over instead, since Goku shouldn’t be lifting a heavy three year old right now. Gohan clung to his daddy as soon as he was close, tail wrapped securely around Goku’s wrist. “This is where I grew up, Gohan. We’re going to go meet some of my friends now.”

Gohan hid his face between his daddy’s shoulder and neck. He was shy around new people. Also, the last time they had met one of his daddy’s old ‘friends’ he hadn’t liked it at all. Gohan pulled back and looked at his mother seriously. “Daddy… Will they hurt you?” He asked, a tiny baby growl tinging his voice.

Goku’s eyebrows shot up from surprise. “Wha—No no. They’re nice, I promise. You can’t hit them Gohan, even if they come close, okay? Most of them are much weaker than you.”

“Yellow armbands.” Raditz said, to clear up for his nephew. On Coalition bases some non-combatants, generally just those considered ‘squishy’, wore yellow armbands as a signal that they should not be treated roughly. Saiyans therefor made sure to steer their dominance displays and fights around or away from those people. It was bad form to squash the lunch lady because you got in a fight over the last side of ribs with another saiyan.

Understanding this analogy, Gohan nodded, now a bit more reassured, and cuddled closer to his parent again. Goku smiled thankfully at his brother.

Meanwhile Tarble was seemingly watching the horizon, his scouter beeping every now and again as he took readings on the population. His muscles seemed to unwind further and further every time more readings came through. “I must admit Goku, I sort of thought you were kidding when you told us about the Earthlings power levels, but this is… I think the highest reading I’m getting right now is about five hundred.”

Goku shrugged. “It’s a mostly peaceful planet. Besides, they usually use weapons when they fight, not energy or their bodies.”

“I’m getting an average power reading between two and five…” Tarble mumbled, in a near daze. How had this planet survived for so long?  

Raditz crossed his arms. “Well whatever their power levels, I think some of them have noticed our presence. I can feel a couple of the stronger ones moving in our direction.”

“Master Roshi’s island is pretty close to here.” Goku informed them. “We should go there to meet them. They’ll probably come there first in any case.”

That said, Tarble locked up the ship and the saiyans took to the air, Raditz making sure to keep a firm grip on his little brother’s arm despite Goku’s protests – just in case. Being pregnant made Goku’s ki drop unpredictably every now and then, and no one wanted the pregnant beta to face plant into the ocean.

Despite his brother’s fussing, Goku enjoyed the wind on his face as they flew, but his heart was racing with a hundred miles a minute and his hands were faintly shaking. He had never been nervous to see his friends before, not even after years had passed, but this time was a bit different. Goku would be introducing his family, and he wasn’t too sure the response would be a positive one.

All too soon Kame House came into view, the pink building popping up brightly on the pale yellow sand. Goku could already tell that people were gathered on the beech to greet them, their ki flaring aggressively.

…Couldn’t they tell it was him?

Maybe not, given his clothes, his silhouette, his much higher ki and his company. Goku almost laughed at his own oversight. He guessed he looked pretty different! Well, there was an easy way to fix that. Goku took a deep breath, covered Gohan’s ears, and yelled.

“HI GUYS!”

xXx

Earth’s warriors waited tensely on master Roshi’s island as the massive coalescences of ki quickly drew closer. Only once in his life had Krillin felt anything like it, and that had been the day he lost his best friend. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant memory.

“So… How sure are we these guys aren’t evil?” Yamcha asked, very skeptically, as he eyed the horizon. Over four years ago he hadn’t arrived in time to see Goku get taken, but he had felt the energy of the one who took him, and damn… That was not a guy he wanted to tango with.

Tien was standing next to him, arms crossed and expression hard as he watched the sky. “The old fortuneteller woman said to show up and wait… But I don’t trust her.”

“Don’t say that Tien.” Krillin begged. “Baba is master Roshi’s sister, and if she isn’t right, then everything we have done since Goku was taken would be…”

Tien grunted, but he didn’t agree. He didn’t feel good about the situation, and had left Chiaotzu behind for exactly that reason.

Krillin cast a glance towards the house where Bulma was, reluctantly, hiding. And in this case Krillin meant reluctant as in ‘why do I have to be here I’m not a fighter I’m too beautiful to die rah rah rah’. Never mind that she had been all for it until the moment the guys had gotten a sense of their visitors’ energies and had all collectively paled.

Master Roshi was sitting on the stairs, looking calm as could be, a red handprint on his cheek - courtesy of Bulma - the only thing breaking the image of a timeless wise sage.

“I see them!” Yamcha yelled suddenly, and true enough, when Krillin whipped back around 3 silhouettes had appeared on the sky and was coming towards them fast.

“That’s weird… I can definitely feel four?” Krillin said as he got into a battle stance, while trying to ignore how much he was shaking.

Roshi huffed. “There’s closer to five.” He said cryptically.

There was no more time to wonder about the potential enemy’s number, because suddenly they were there. The humans all powered up, knowing that they were horribly outclassed but unwilling to go down without a fight if it came to that, when a cheery voice broke through the tension.

“HI GUYS!”

Krillin felt his jaw drop, he lost his stance and stumbled forward, eyes wide, hardly daring to believe his ears. Was that… “Goku?!” He said, breath hitching as, true enough, one of the silhouettes transformed into his childhood friend who was landing lightly on the sand in front of them all. “GOKU!” He yelled, tears of joy in his eyes now, as he set off to throw himself at his friend for a hug.

Krillin was summarily stopped and sent flying.

“Raditz!!!”

“What?! He was coming right at you!”

“He’s my _friend!_ ”

“—And he was coming right at you! You’re carrying a toddler and a baby, you’re fragi—!”

The loud voices, one of them definitely Goku’s, seemed to continue, but Krillin was a bit too busy picking himself out of the sand while trying to remember how he’d even gotten there to listen. It had happened so fast!

“Krillin man, are you okay?” Yamcha asked, one hand on his shoulder as Krillin slowly got up.

“I—Yea… What happened?”

Yamcha gestured towards Goku and his company with a strangely blank look. Krillin quirked an eyebrow but followed the motion. Then he realized why Yamcha looked so odd. It was because the sight that greeted them was too.

“No more hitting!” Goku was demanding of some ridiculously tall, muscled and long haired man, who was watching him with crossed arms and an exasperated frown.

“It was just a tail smack!” Tall and scary defended.

Goku huffed and sent him a warning glare… And speaking of Goku. Krillin was having a hard time recognizing his oldest friend. Not only was he wearing red harem pants and a blue silk tunic with gold trims, looking like an exotic dancer for some messed up reason, he was also carrying a toddler who looked suspiciously like him, only with close to the same hairdo as tall and scary had. Lastly, he was a lot… rounder, than when Krillin had last seen him. It almost looked like… But it couldn’t be. Goku was a guy! Maybe his gluttonous appetite had finally caught up with him?

Krillin noticed how Tien and Yamcha were both just staring uselessly, while Bulma was cautiously poking her head outside the front door and Roshi seemed satisfied with letting everything play out by itself, so despite being the one who was just ‘tail-smacked’ into the sand, Krillin took it upon himself to be the voice of reason. “Uh, Goku…?” He tried, significantly more subdued this time, while he took a couple of slow steps towards the group.

Tall and scary immediately glared at him, but once Goku caught sight of him, he smiled like the sun. “Krillin! It’s so good to see you!”

“Uh, yea, same to you buddy. We all missed you, so much!” Krillin assured, slowly calming down as Goku kept smiling and tall and scary kept doing nothing but glare and flex his muscles. “Who is, uh…” He gestured kind of aimlessly at Goku’s group, finally noticing how they all had tails like him. All saiyans then— wonderful.

“Is that a toddler?” Yamcha finally piped up from behind Krillin.

“No it’s clearly a poodle.” Tien deadpanned.

“This is my son, Gohan!” Goku introduced proudly, either failing to notice the awkward air or just not caring. “Say hello buddy?”

The toddler, Gohan, did not seem like he wanted to say hello. He was clinging to his dad and glaring at them all, not like they would attack him, more like he was thinking of going after _them._ Krillin got the distinct feeling that he had seen those dark black eyes the boy sprouted somewhere before…

“He’s shy around strangers.” Goku laughed, smiling apologetically.

Apparently the presence of a little kid meant that Bulma deemed it safe enough for her to be outside too, which was questionable really, taking into account how _Goku_ had been when he was younger. Bulma was either the bravest woman Krillin knew, or she had less survival instincts than a moth near fire – endlessly fascinated by shit that could kill her in two seconds flat. Take her green “pet” for example. He had decided not to show, but Krillin was sure their questionable ally was skulking around nearby anyway.  

“Goku!” She called, blue hair flying behind her as she skipped across the sand to reach them.

“Who’s _that_?” Krillin heard the voice of the third saiyan, whom he hadn’t really gotten a good look at yet since he was standing behind the other two, ask.

“Hi Bulma!” Goku greeted with a smile, seeming relieved to finally be allowed a normal happy hello.

“Oh my god you’re back! I can’t believe you have a son!” She gushed as she came closer, already in ‘look at this cute fluffy thing’ mode. Krillin wanted it noted that he suspected this particular kid to be a lot more vicious than a kitten. The boy looked no more than four and yet his ki eclipsed Krillin’s by _a lot_.

“How old are you Gohan?” Bulma was asking, attention focused on the boy.

“… Three years.” Gohan answered carefully, after a bit of deliberation. He looked at his daddy then.

“Three years and eight, almost nine, months.” Goku confirmed. He couldn’t believe his little boy was almost four already. At least Gohan seemed a lot more relaxed at the sight of Bulma, probably because he recognized that she wasn’t a warrior, and also that she was something like a beta. Goku was silently relieved by this.

Meanwhile Bulma was doing some quick calculations. “That’s… Damn, that means you made him like three months after you got kidnapped Goku. Just how did you find a girlfriend so fast?” Bulma teased, but in reality she was genuinely curious, and somewhat worried. Her friend hadn’t been forced into anything, right? Taking Chichi into account, Goku did have a history of troublesome ‘romantic’ interests.

“Uh, about that…” Goku said, suddenly shifty eyed. He scratched his hair and laughed a little. “I don’t have a girlfriend, or a wife. I-I’m…” He swallowed, not sure how this was gonna go down. “I’m his mom.”

Silence fell over the whole beach. Everyone stared - from the toddler, to Goku’s swollen belly, to the tall saiyan with hair like the toddler’s and back. Then finally Yamcha giggled. “You always played the weirdest pranks Goku.”

“Yea, good one.” Krillin added, but silently he was _freaking out_. It really didn’t look like Goku had developed a beergut or something, he was way too fit looking otherwise. No, he definitely looked pregnant. But it just couldn’t be true, right? He was a guy for crying out loud! Humans didn’t work like tha—Oh, wait…

Tien and Roshi both weren’t saying anything, but Bulma had gone from stunned disbelief to looking thoughtful, her genius mind working fast. She, for one, hadn’t forgotten that Goku was actually an alien. “So if you’re his mom, then…” Slowly her eyes moved to the tallest saiyan, who bared his teeth at her.

“I’m Raditz. Kakarot’s _brother_.” He told them all, correcting their assumptions.

“Goku has a brother?!” Was the general exclamation made by several people.

Goku was slowly starting to smile again, relieved that no one had blown a lid over him being Gohan’s mother. Of course they didn’t know who Gohan’s father was, _yet_ , and somehow Goku didn’t see that going over as well… Still, he might as well get it over with. “I have a dad and mom too, and my mate— errh, husband, and my brother in law!”

With those words Goku grabbed the arm of the third saiyan and finally pulled him forward so the rest could see. Bulma, Krillin and Roshi all froze up at the sight of him. “Vegeta!?!” Bulma shrieked, jumping back in fright.

“Uhm, no, Tarble. Hi.” Said saiyan corrected with a small somewhat shy wave. He definitely _looked_ like the maniac who had kidnapped Goku, but his demeanor was completely off. He was smiling apologetically for one. “I’m pretty used to that reaction though, I mean, my brother’s reputation tends to precede him and we look alike, so…”

“Wait, brother?” Krillin asked. He frowned, mind slow and reluctant to make the connections. “But if you’re Goku’s brother-in-law, then that means…” Everyone stared at the toddler again, then back at Goku. “That bastard. He didn’t!” Krillin yelled.

Bulma was looking ill. “Oh Goku, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I—“

Meanwhile Goku had gone wide-eyed and pale and was shaking both his head and his free hand. “No no no no! It’s definitely not what you’re thinking!” He assured them rather desperately, which assured absolutely no one.

“So that bastard Vegeta really has nothing to do with _that_?!” Yamcha asked disbelievingly with an angry gesture at Gohan. He might not have been there to see the guy snatch Goku, but he could understand the connotations of the conversation just fine.

“ _That_ is my son.” Goku hissed, eyes and expression suddenly going completely cold. It was a complete 180 from seconds before, and that, coupled with the jump in his already fearsome ki, made everyone take a nervous step back. Even Bulma seemed to feel it.     

“Now now Goku, no one is saying—“ Master Roshi finally broke in.

“They’re _implying!_ ” Goku growled, eyes flashing. Raditz put a hand on his shoulder to keep him back.

“If you really think my brother would do something like that then—“ Tarble felt the need to add, but was broken off by master Roshi before he could really get going.

“—Given the timeframe, and the way we were introduced to Vegeta, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch, is all anyone is saying.” Roshi said, which visibly ruffled some feathers, or rather, tails. “But now let’s see. If I’m not terribly mistaken, then I do believe my former student is rather heavily pregnant at the moment, yes? Catching up and yelling if need be is all fine and well, but let’s move inside, into the shade. We have lemonade, and I’m sure it’s tiring for Goku to stand around. Isn’t that right my boy?” He asked genuinely, only to pause. “Erh, I mean, is that the correct term?”

At his old master’s kind words, Goku visibly calmed down, hackles lowering, even if the rest of his family weren’t as easily placated and kept showing fang. “Yea, that’s fine. I guess I can explain about all this” he gestured at his belly, “once inside… Short version is I’m an alien.” He said with a shrug, looking up again.

“Yes… You are, aren’t you.” Bulma mumbled, perhaps mostly to herself, though Krillin was honestly having the same thought. Being told by a crazy alien prince that Goku was one too didn’t really have the same impact as Goku himself showing up over four years later, heavily and visibly pregnant. It sort of drove the point home, hard. Also, he had his tail back.

“Now come along.” Roshi urged, wanting to get people inside and seated before any more accusations could be flung around or, god forbid it, before anyone could start fighting around the pregnant person.

Everyone slowly wandered inside, the saiyans last to enter, and Roshi sent Yamcha to the kitchen to make lemonade and tea, since somehow he was getting the worst glares. Probably for calling Gohan ‘that’.    

Meanwhile Raditz unknowingly downgraded himself from ‘holy shit scary’ to ‘over worried tense brother’ with how, once Yamcha was out of sight, he started fussing around Goku until the latter finally rolled his eyes, sat down in a stuffed soft armchair and let his brother find him a blanket and a footrest.

The rest of the warriors watched this with varying stages of ‘wtf’, while Tarble had seemingly lost all focus on everything else in favor of fiddling with the TV. If Roshi wanted that thing to stay whole, it would probably have been better to stop him, but no one was going to take away the Vegeta-look-alike’s plaything, no matter how affable he seemed. 

Gohan stayed above it all, still seated next to his mother, with an alert if slightly superior expression on his face as he watched the humans. It was unnerving to be stared down by a 3 year old and actually feel intimidated.

Everyone settled into their seats, and soon after Yamcha returned with pitchers and cups. There was an awkward shuffling silence as people filled their glasses, but finally the lemonade reached Goku who smiled as he made himself a glass. He was prevented from drinking it by his son though, who pulled it closer and sniffed it suspiciously. Goku paused, surprised by the action. He had seen Vegeta do something similar before, but Gohan couldn’t possibly be… “What are you doing buddy?” Goku asked.

“Checking if it’s okay. Like Papa.” Gohan informed his daddy seriously.

 Goku smiled slightly, suspicion confirmed. Vegeta knew the scent of most poisons, and had the habit of sniffing things sometimes, especially before handing them to Goku. These days Gohan spent a lot of his time mimicking the adult alphas around him, since Goku’s pregnancy had made the little boy aware of the differences between genders. It was a mix of slowly developing instincts and copycat behavior, and extremely cute, but Goku sincerely doubted that his toddler had any idea what any type of poison smelled like. “Oh? And what’s the verdict?” He asked anyway, playing along.

Now Gohan looked troubled. Clearly he had no idea what he was actually smelling for. He looked at his uncle, silently asking for help. Raditz raised an eyebrow, then picked up a glass himself and took a slurp. Gohan watched him carefully, then smiled and looked back at his daddy. “It’s good!”

“Woo, lucky!” Goku said and took the glass while using his free hand to ruffle Gohan’s hair.

The humans watched this interaction with mixed expressions. Surprisingly, Tien was one of the smiling ones. “Some sort of ritual?” He asked, eyes moving from the little boy to Goku. “My daughters do stuff like that too.”

Everyone whipped around to stare at him. “Daughters?!” They all cried as one, Goku included. The remaining saiyans just blinked, not understanding the fuss.

Tien clammed up when he realized what he had just revealed, but seeing the expectant faces of his friends, and since he was slowly realizing that the saiyans didn’t seem to be here for bad reasons, he slowly un-tensed and allowed a blush to dust his cheeks together with a small proud smile. “Twin girls. One year old… Luckily they don’t seem to have their mother’s condition, but one is blonde and the other is dark haired.”

There was a moment of silence while everyone digested that, but then Yamcha clapped his shoulder. “That’s great man! Congratulations!”

“Yea, congratz Tien!” Krillin said, then laughed. “I can’t really imagine blonde Launch as a mother but… Well, with her gentle side to back it up, I’m sure it’ll work out.”

“It works surprisingly well for both actually.” Tien said, smiling. “But thank you.”

Goku grinned at the three eyed man. “I guess I’m not the only one who became a parent!”

Krillin looked at him. “…Man it’s so weird to hear you call yourself a parent. Even if it’s true.”

Goku winkled his nose. “It’s weird for me but not for Tien?”

“Well Tien is…” Yamcha started, trying to explain, but coming up short for things to say that wouldn’t be insulting. “Uuhh…”

Bulma rolled her eyes and flipped her hair. “It’s because you became a _mother_ Goku. There’s nothing wrong with that, but give us a little time to adjust, yea? Last we knew you were a guy and totally incapable of something like that.”

Goku got her point, and couldn’t help laughing while scratching his hair. “Yea, man was I surprised about that too when Raditz told me!” He nudged his so far silent brother with an elbow. “Do you remember? I didn’t get why guys were hitting on me and you were so mad!”

“Please don’t remind me.” Raditz said, arms crossed and expression pained at the memories. No one should have to give their brother the sex talk.

Slowly the air was becoming less tense, almost pleasant thanks to the joking and good news, so Bulma felt they should get to the meat of the subject.

“So, Goku… Not that we’re not extremely happy to see you, but you clearly seem to be doing well, I mean you even have a family! So why come back now?” It couldn’t just be to check in with them. Goku was the type who could disappear for years with no word of him being alive, without a thought to any of them, and he always acted like nothing had happened and practically no time had passed whenever he showed up again. There had to be a reason he was here.

With the way Goku’s relaxed features slowly shifted into to something more severe, Bulma guessed she’d been right.

“It’s a long story…” Goku said, frankly wishing he could just jump to the point, but doubting Bulma would let him.

“Well, we’ve been wondering for years! Not to mention worrying about you! We can take the time.” Bulma argued. “You know, the only reason we didn’t wish you back right after you were taken was because Kami contacted one of his higher ranking buddies who freaked out and told us not to when he heard you were taken by the saiyans.” She said, expression pissed as she recalled the gathering on Kami’s lookout where they had gotten that order. No one had agreed with just leaving Goku to his fate, and finally fortuneteller Baba had been called and forced to divine something, just to reassure them all that Goku would indeed return.

“We were told some things about a war going on? Apparently the gods are watching, but can’t really interfere. Kami and his buddies weren’t very forthcoming.” Krillin added. In the end they had only agreed not to wish Goku back since Vegeta might have made the connection and turned right back around to get him again. They had decided to trust Baba, who said Goku would be back, and Goku’s own crazy resilience instead.

While the Earthlings had been talking, Raditz’ eyes had grown wider and wider and Tarble, who had been listening despite acting oblivious, had joined the table again too. “Wait, the gods? Who the hell is this Kami person who can talk to the gods?!” Raditz asked, standing up for more effect.

“Well, he’s basically a god himself.” Goku explained, completely blaze. “He’s the guardian of Earth, and he can go to the other world and talk to the rest of the gods there if he needs to. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s watching us right now actually, he always did that when I was still living with him.”

“Living with him!?! With a god!?!” Raditz exclaimed, looking at his brother in a mix of disbelief and awe. He had always thought that there was something just… Different about his brother. Something that put him a level above the rest. It might not be unusual to compare pretty betas to Ludz, but holy crap, what if Kakarot was _actually_ divine somehow?!

Goku shrugged. “Yea, he and mister Popo housed me for three years, after I defeated the demon king. Taught me to fight ‘n stuff. It was pretty weird, living above the skies like that. By the end of it I was really tired of all the white.”

“You lived in heaven?! You fought a _demon king_?!?” Raditz yelled. He was growing more and more frazzled by the minute, his hair practically standing on end. “Why the hell have you never told me any of this?!”

Goku blinked at his almost hyperventilating brother. “It… Didn’t come up?”

Unable to keep it in anymore, Krillin laughed out loud. “Oh man, I’d forgotten how crazy this all sounds when you’re not used to it. I guess we weren’t the only ones getting a surprise today!”

Bulma smiled gently at Raditz, who was still looking wide-eyed and lost, and at Tarble who was just staring at Goku with an open mouth. “I guess you’re still not completely used to Goku related crazy, huh?”

Raditz sat down again, heavily. “It doesn’t matter how old I get. I’ll never get used to Kakarot.”

Tarble nodded in agreement. He couldn’t believe his brother had managed to mate someone who had literally been raised by a god! No wonder Goku was so unfazed by royalty and the like when he was used to hanging out with actual _gods._  

Meanwhile Goku wasn’t getting what all the fuss was about, and decided to focus on his son instead, since the toddler seemed to be growing unfocused and bored. Goku bounced him in his lap, which caught Gohan’s attention and caused him to giggle. The little boy seemed to have forgotten about staying on guard, probably because the rest of his family wasn’t acting like there were any threats. “We’ll go outside soon Gohan, then you can play. I just have to tell everyone some things first. Can you be patient?”

Gohan nodded and happily cuddled closer to his daddy. Goku smiled and looked back at his friends, deciding to ignore his frazzled looking brother and the stunned looking Tarble for now. “We’re a bit pressed for time, so I guess I’ll give you the quick version of the story.” Goku said. “You all know how I met Vegeta. He took me to space, and in the beginning I really didn’t like him, but then we spent some time together and I changed my mind…”

xXx

Despite trying to give the short version of events, it still took over an hour before Goku was done. Everyone had kept interrupting him with questions, sometimes because Goku needed to expound on a subject, and sometimes just because they could hardly believe what they were hearing. Also, they had circled back to Vegeta several times, really not believing that he could be an even halfway decent guy or husband to their friend.

Finally Goku was done though, and now everyone were looking thoughtful. He hadn’t told them that he wanted to use the Dragon Balls yet, but with the way Bulma was looking at him, Goku suspected she knew.

“So, you’re a prince…” Bulma started slowly. “And your people are all stuck on your planet and starving…” He nodded. She eyed him shrewdly. “You need the Dragon Balls, don’t you?”

Goku nodded again, shoulders slumping. “ _Please_ lend me the dragon radar Bulma. Just getting here was super difficult. I really can’t go back empty handed.”

She huffed and crossed her arms. “Of course I’ll lend it to you! I’m not just going to let a whole planet of people starve to death!” She stood up and walked to her bags, which were lying on the couch. “I’m really not sure if ShenLong can fix this… But it’s worth a try! Luckily I brought the radar just in case things went south and we needed the balls.” She pulled out said object and grinned triumphantly.

Goku shifted Gohan over to Raditz, got up with some struggle and moved over to Bulma as fast as his waddling would take him to give her a hug. “Thank you Bulma! You’re a genius!”

Grinning, Bulma hugged him back. “Of course I am!”

Curious by the object his brother in law needed and was so happy to see, Tarble stood up and moved closer too. “What is that? Can I see it?”

Bulma smirked superiorly and handed it over. “Sure, though I’m not sure if you’ll get the mechanics that I—“

Tarble popped the radar open and took a look at the insides, an exited smile growing on his face. “Oh, this looks like a Sirmian style scanner circuit, with some Reon-tech thrown in. I didn’t know Earth had trade with those planets.”

Bulma blinked at him, surprised. “W-we don’t. Most people don’t even believe aliens are real. I made all that myself… But, are you… Are you saying that you get it?”

Tarble raised his eyes to hers. “Get it? Yes. But I can’t believe you made this yourself! Compared to the bulky display screen over there, this is decades advanced from your technology!”

Bulma finally looked at Tarble, really looked at him, and thought that when you got over the fact that he kinda looked like his brother, he was actually pretty handsome. And smart too! Now blushing, she swirled a lock of hair around her finger. “W-well my family runs the most advanced research and technology Cooperation on Earth, and I’m a genius, so!”

Eyes lighting up, Tarble took an exited step closer. “Really? Do you have any of your other tech with you?”

Thinking about it for a moment, Bulma turned to Goku. “Hey Goku, do you guys have capsules in space?” When Goku shook his head, she grinned. Still smirking, Bulma pulled out her capsule bag from her belongings. “Let’s go outside, and be prepared to have your mind blown!”

Tarble followed her happily.

“…Uh, what’s happening?” Goku asked, looking from the front door which was swinging on its hinges after Bulma and Tarble had exited, and back at his brother and the others.

Raditz snorted. “You’re as oblivious as ever, even after mating. Good thing Vegeta is about as subtle as a punch to the face, or you’d never have noticed him courting you.”

Frowning, Goku looked at his other friends. He didn’t understand, but it wasn’t because he didn’t notice what seemed to be happening. It was just that Bulma was together with Yamcha! Except, when he looked at the former desert bandit, Yamcha didn’t look surprised. Instead he was slightly slumped and depressed looking, but he didn’t appear to be gearing up to go after Tarble.

When Yamcha noticed Goku’s questioning look, her smiled sadly. “Bulma and I haven’t been a thing for more than a year… Hell, we were hardly a thing half the time before that.”

“Oh, okay then.” Goku said, and put it out of his mind. “Anyways, could you guys help me get the Dragon Balls? I’d do it myself, but…” He gestured at his belly.

Raditz stood up. “You’re not going anywhere. I’m not letting you out of my sight!”

“Yea, yea.” Goku waved him off, attention still focused on his friends.

Tien shook his head. “I’d like to stay, but there’s only one radar anyway, so you don’t really need more than one person. Besides, I left in quite a hurry. I’m sure Launch, Chiaotzu and the girls are worried. I should get beck.”

Goku nodded in understanding and looked at the remaining people.

“Uh, I think I’ll leave too…” Yamcha said, slowly getting up while scratching his hair. “I’m not with Bulma anymore, but I don’t really wanna stick around when she’s… You know.” He gestured towards the outsides.

Roshi spoke up too then. “I’m an old man. Count me out. I’ll stay here with you lot, it is my house after all, which makes me your host.” Also, he wanted to stay near Bulma. Even if he got no opportunity to touch, that girl still had a magnificent set of breasts. He grinned just thinking about them.

“I’ll help!” Krillin piped up. He had really wanted to spend more time with Goku, to talk with him more, but it seemed like his friend needed this more.  

“Thanks Krillin!” Goku grinned.

Plan sort of made, everyone made their way back outside, some to leave and Roshi just to wave goodbye before taking a nap. Once Tien and Yamcha had gone, the remaining men looked towards the other end of the beach, where Bulma was showing off and Tarble was predictably losing his mind.

Goku shared a troubled look with his brother. “Will this be okay…?”

Raditz shrugged. “There’s no guarantee anything will come of it, but if something does… I don’t think King Vegeta will be happy about halfbreeds being born into the royal line, but on the other hand, Tarble has been pretty much booted from the line of succession ever since Vegeta came back, so I figure he deserves to do what he wants.”

Goku smiled, agreeing with his brother.

Gohan, who was clinging to his daddy’s tail, was looking around curiously at the sand and sea. He spotted a brightly colored seashell and was tempted towards it, but he didn’t dare let go of his mother. Luckily, Goku noticed his dilemma. “It’s okay Gohan, you can go and explore. The islands pretty small, so just stay in sight, okay?”

Gohan looked up at his daddy. “…Don’t leave?”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Goku assured him, with a ruffle to his hair.

After setting his toddler loose, and reclaiming the Dragon Radar so Krillin could leave, Goku meandered over towards the palm trees and the sun chairs his old master kept there. Shortly after he was lying down in the shade, cold lemonade within reach, more comfortable than he had been in a long time. Raditz was sitting next to him, leaned casually against one of the tree trunks. It looked for all intent and purposes like the two saiyans were completely relaxed and unaware of their surroundings, but any person semi knowledgeable about saiyan body language would have been able to tell that wasn’t true.

While Raditz’ tail was curled around him in the typical fashion worn by warriors on guard, Goku’s was stretched next to his body, the tip slowly ticking back and forth, revealing his attentiveness. Every now and then he opened one glinting eye to check on his squealing cub, who was splashing at the water edge and delighting in the crabs and colorful shells. He didn’t think Gohan would get in any trouble just playing around on the island, but his instincts refused to let him calm down. Saiyan mothers were very aware of their cubs whenever they were outside their dens. Small cubs had a tendency to get in anything and everything, their curiosity endless and their desire for challenge already strong.

Fifteen minutes or so later, Tarble joined them in the shade, with a slightly spaced look to his face. Raditz grinned when he spotted him. “Found something you like?”

“She’s…” Tarble shook his head, trying to focus. “She’s so _smart_. She’s not a fighter, but she seems fierce. I just—“ He broke himself off and plumped down in the sand next to Goku. “I don’t know what to do. I caught myself making tail motions at her, but of course she wouldn’t get that, and she didn’t ask me to fight…”

Goku chuckled and opened his eyes. “She’s not going to.”

Tarble slumped.

“Ah, that’s not what I meant!” Goku hurried to reassure, pushing himself up with his elbows. “But she’s human, and not a fighter as you said, so she definitely won’t try to fight you.”

“But then what? How do humans court?” Tarble asked.

“I…” Goku trailed off and scratched his hair. “I really don’t know actually. The first time _I_ became interested in that stuff was after I joined back up with other saiyans and could fight and such.”

“Maybe you could hunt something down for her?” Raditz suggested, genuinely trying to be helpful. He might not get the appeal of the blue haired girl, or approve really, but if Tarble wanted to go for it, then Raditz wouldn’t make any noise about it. Raditz understood the desire to find someone very well himself, and had only become more aware of it after watching his brother mate and have cubs. But even so, he wasn’t quite desperate enough to go for weak aliens yet.   

“I doubt she’d like that.” Goku said, before Tarble could follow through with the idea.

“…What if he fought that Yamcha guy then, and showed her he’s better?” Raditz said.

Goku made a face. “ _Definitely_ not.”     

Tarble groaned and pulled up his knees so he could hide his face against them. “It’s hopeless… Maybe it’s a bad idea anyway… I mean, my father and brother would freak, and maybe she wouldn’t want to leave here. Maybe she’s not even interested in the first place… I mean, she sorta smelled like it, but I don’t know if humans smell the same as saiyans when it comes to that. She didn’t say anything, she just kept touching her hair.”

“Weird.” Raditz agreed.

Sighing, Goku slowly got up. Raditz was instantly alert. “Relax.” Goku told him. “I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll try to talk to her if you want Tarble, but I dunno if it’s gonna help.” With those words he waddled towards the house, knowing that the alphas would watch over Gohan in his absence.

It was pretty nice to be inside again, much cooler, so after Goku did his business, he decided to stay. That turned out to be pretty lucky, since two minutes later he was hit with false contractions. “Aw, shit.” He cursed, taken off guard. It was too painful to sit down, so Goku stood up and leaned on the dining table, stretching his backs like a cat. “Ow ow ow….” He whined, as his entire midsection seemed to be engulfed in a charley horse. The spasms were painful and relentless, and it took Goku some will to breathe through them without crying out. It was better if Raditz and Tarble didn’t see this. Goku knew the stronger practice contractions meant he was getting close, and they would know it too. He’d already had one set today, which Raditz had seen. This really wasn’t promising.

“Goku?” Bulma asked, appearing from the kitchen. She must have heard him.

Unable to assure her, since he was in the middle of a contraction, Goku just grunted. Seconds later Bulma was next to him and rubbing his lower back. “Oooooh no. Please don’t tell me you’re in labor!”

With another grunt, Goku shook his head. “Labor’s way more painful.” He ground out.

“But—“

“False contractions.” Goku explained, when the last spasm started letting up and he slowly relaxed again. “They hurt by now, but as long as they’re not getting longer or closer together…”

Bulma stood back, looking a bit surprised. “I keep forgetting you’ve already given birth once. I mean, I assume. How does it…?”

“You don’t wanna know.” Goku said as he carefully stood back up.

“You’re underestimating the curiosity of a scientist.” She told him, but let it go for now. When Goku moved to the kitchen for a drink of water, Bulma followed. “Sooo… Speaking of scientists, apparently Tarble is one?” She leaned against the counter, trying to look casual. “Is he single?”

Goku smiled behind his glass of water. “Why’d ya wanna know?” He asked cheekily.

Bulma blushed, and nudged his arm with a loose fist. “Aww, come on you! Being married and all, you’ve gotta realize. Besides, I _know_ you’re not that innocent.” She glanced at his belly with a smirk.

It was a bit hard to deny that, so Goku just shrugged with a smile. “He likes you, but he doesn’t get how humans work or show interest, and I don’t either, so you’ll hafta do it the saiyan way.” He paused. “I mean have to.”

Bulma raised an eyebrow. She had noticed how Goku’s speech had gotten less country bumbkin like, more refined, but he seemed to have been slipping slowly back into his old speech patterns after hanging out with them all. She was curious about the other ways he might have changed over the last years, aside from the obvious. That wasn’t what was on her mind right now though. “I guess that explains why he wasn’t reacting to my flirting like, at all. I thought that maybe he was like you or something…”

“Nah, Tarble’s pretty gentle for a saiyan, but he’s an alpha alright. Just don’t mess with the people he likes, or you’ll get to see how scary he can actually be.” Goku said.

“A bit like you then?” Bulma said with a smile, then ran a hand through her loose hair. “So? What do saiyans do that’s so different? How did _you_ manage to get married to royalty? I bet there’s a juicy story there.”

Goku leaned against the counter too. “Hmm, well I don’t really know. Vegeta started it, I think. He insists it was me though, since I offered him food first.”

“What has that got to do with anything?”

“It’s like…” Goku looked for the right words. Tarble had explained it as something betas did when wanting to get noticed, but after spending time around other betas, both Dilla and his students, Goku knew there were more nuances to it than that. “It depends a bit on the relationship you already have with the other person, but basically it can mean ‘notice me’ or if you already suspect that there’s an interest, it’s closer to meaning ‘I’d welcome your attention’.” He was pretty proud of that explanation. “It doesn’t count if it’s a survival situation of course, and I can hand food to Tarble without it meaning anything since we’re related. When I did it to Vegeta though, I was just trying to be nice, and I had no idea about the other meanings. We had just been in a fight where he almost killed me a few days before, so he was pretty surprised to say the least.”

Bulma, who had also taken a glass of water, almost did a spit-take. “He _what?!_ And you still married him?!?”

Goku shrugged. “Mated. But yes. Fighting the person you’re interested in is how saiyans flirt.”

“Uh…” Bulma just stared at him for a moment, then sighed deeply. “ _Saiyans._ Why am I not surprised? Still, I’m not a fighter Goku. There’s no way I can just go out there and hit him!”

Goku thought that would probably work pretty well actually, since you didn’t have to defeat your partner or anything if you were an interested beta. In fact the whole point was not to, since having a stronger alpha appealed to a beta’s instincts. He doubted Bulma would want to roll around in the sand or get sweaty though.

Another part of saiyan communication was body language, tail movement and scents, all of which Goku had been horrible at reading or controlling when he had first shown up. He remembered how lost and confused he had felt, and though Bulma wasn’t saiyan at all, he didn’t want her to experience the same thing. Explaining tail language to her might not help much though, since she didn’t have one herself and it was pretty much instinctual. Goku had never actually gotten an explanation either; he had just sort of picked up on it along the way. 

He watched the microwave with a frown, unsure how else to help. Then, thanks to the kitchen appliance, he was suddenly struck by an idea. With a wide grin he turned to Bulma. “I think I know what you can do, but…” His smile faded. “Are you sure you want to? Saiyans don’t wait around or date like humans do. We don’t do engagements. We find someone, and if we like them we fight them and then mate. It’s all pretty instinctual.”

Bulma held up a hand, eyes narrow. “Taking into account just how fast you seem to have gotten pregnant the first time… How fast are we talking?” She was interested and all, but she wasn’t _that_ ready to go.   

Tilting his head, Goku thought about that for a bit. “I allowed Vegeta to court me officially for less than two weeks, which was actually considered dragging it out since everyone knew we were both interested. Of course the couple of months before that were pretty weird for me, and Turles wasn’t making things easier either.” Goku said, voice gaining an annoyed tone.

“Who?” Bulma asked.

“Urgh. Other alpha, very persistent. He and Vegeta ended up almost killing each other – it was a mess.” Goku muttered with a frown. “I don’t really wanna talk about it… Anyway. Sometimes mating takes some weeks, other times days. Or less.” He looked at Bulma. “You can tell him that’s not how it works for humans, but he’ll be fighting his instincts. Still want to do it?”

Bulma brought a hand to her chin and thought about it. Having someone that dedicated to a shared future wasn’t bad… She supposed. She was still really young to be getting married, or mated(whatever), especially to an alien she had just met. Especially to an alien from the same species as _Goku._ Still, all the technological knowledge Tarble was bound to have crammed into his head was enough to tempt her by itself, and he seemed more sensible than Goku ever had. In the end she shrugged. “I’m not gonna do a shotgun wedding thing, or whatever it was you did, but I’m interested. I’m not saiyan though, so if he’s interested too then he’ll just have to compromise.”

Goku thought that sounded fair. “Well, then you should—“

xXx

Tarble was still seated in the sand close to Raditz, drawing forlorn shapes in the sand with a stick. He had never been shown much interest in by betas. His meek nature, and poor prospects when it came to getting the throne, meant that neither the normal ones nor the gold-diggers were interested in him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t strong, if he trained more then he could probably catch up to his brother someday, but he just didn’t have the desire to fight the same way Vegeta or even Goku did. He was odd like that, and he knew it. Raditz knew it too, but thanks to his younger brother the taller saiyan was at this point completely unfazed by a minor quirk like that. At least Tarble didn’t make a habit out of making Raditz stress-shed until his tail got bald patches.

Both alphas looked up when they heard the front door to the pink wooden house open. It was Bulma, walking confidently and with her chest strutting as she made her way towards them. Goku followed slowly after her with his waddling gait. Tarble couldn’t help straightening up, even if he knew nothing would probably come from this. They were from different worlds, with practically no shared communication skills when it came to—

“Here Tarble, catch!” Bulma said, and threw something at him, breaking him from his thoughts.

Tarble caught the object by reflex, and looked down at it with some curiosity, only to find that it was a bright red fruit. His head whipped up again, and he stared at Bulma with wide eyes, before looking questioningly at Goku.

The beta nodded with a small smile. She knew what it meant.

Jaw almost dropping, Tarble looked back at Bulma, happy but unsure what to say. Luckily, it didn’t seem like she was done yet. “Say Tarble, why don’t we have a match?” Bulma asked, popping her hip and grinning at him.

He must have heard that wrong. “A-a match? Like a _fight_?”

“Sure.” Bulma said. “Not a physical one though.” Her smile grew. “Roshi’s got all sort of junk lying around, and I brought my tool kit. So, the challenge is this: Make a better weapon than me in an hour, and you’ll win.” She tossed her hair. “Not that I think you _can_ , but...”

Tarble got up, apple almost getting crushed in his clenching hands. “Oh? We’ll see about that.” He said, voice deep and eyes gleaming with sudden battle lust. _This_ was a fight he liked the sounds of.

Still staring down her nose at him with a superior smirk, Bulma turned back towards the house, expecting the saiyan prince to follow. They hadn’t gotten far though before a wail split the air.

“Gohan!” If they had been lulled into thinking Goku couldn’t move fast anymore, then that illusion was shattered now. One minute the beta was just standing there, the next he was in motion – disappearing around the house faster than Bulma’s eyes could follow.

Raditz and Tarble were right behind him. Though young and shrill, that had definitely been a battle cry. As soon as they rounded the corner of the house, they found Goku crouching and snarling fiercely at a tall green man who was holding a spitting and hissing saiyan cub away from his person with a grip at his neckline.

Raditz stumbled to a stop. “What the hell is a _Namekian_ doing here?!” He asked. “I thought they went extinct?”

Said Namekian was watching Goku warily. “I wasn’t doing anything – _he_ jumped _me._ ” He complained, clearly referring to Gohan. “Here, have him back.” With those words he tossed the cub towards Goku, who caught his son and immediately pulled him close.

“What are you doing here Piccolo?” Goku growled, still in a battle stance, even with a squirming Gohan held close.

Piccolo crossed his arms. “Hmpf. You come back after several years, much stronger than before. Of course I would show up! I vowed to kill you for killing my father, remember?”

That statement had the two other saiyans crouching and showing fang too, a deep threatening rumbling starting in their chests. Despite the immense power difference, Piccolo didn’t look like he was backing down. He smirked, as if he had some trump up his sleeve.

But before things could escalate, they were all rather rudely interrupted in their standoff by a shrill voice.

“PICCOLO!” Bulma yelled as she came stalking around the house’s corner, eyes practically blue flames. “What the devil do you think you’re doing!? Goku’s pregnant for god’s sake! I thought we _talked_ about this!?”

Some of the air seemed to go out of Piccolo’s sail. “Bulma…” He mumbled, before regaining his vigor. “I wasn’t going to fight him _now_! I know he’s pregnant, I was listening in. I just don’t want him to think I’m not going to—“

“Oh come _off it_.” Bulma yelled as she stalked past the dumbfounded saiyans, walked up to Piccolo and reached up to grab one long green ear. She pulled on it harshly and Piccolo winced as he was forced down. “ _No_ killing Goku. I don’t care if you fight him, the moron would probably enjoy it, but don’t you dare go all demon on all of us again.”

By now Piccolo was looking a mix of embarrassed and constipated. “I _am_ a demon!”

“Uh, no you’re not.” Raditz felt the need to interject. “You’re a Namekian.”

Bulma and Piccolo, still caught in their ear pulling position, both looked at him. “A what?” They asked as one.

Goku’s head was whipping wildly back and forth between his brother, childhood friend and nemesis, not understanding anything. Meanwhile Raditz was feeling pretty put on the spot, but he tried to shake it off. “A Namekian.” He repeated. “You know, an alien like us, but from Namek?”

Piccolo frowned. “I have no memories of any such thing.”

“Maybe you got memory loss like me when you were a kid?” Goku suggested, feeling like he should help. What if everything up til now had been a misunderstanding, and Piccolo really wasn’t that evil?

Bulma made an exasperated face. “He was born on Earth, why would he know anything about that?”

“Oh yea, I forgot.” Goku said.

Piccolo stared at him. “You were literally right there when I was born.”

“Yea!” Bulma interjected. “And then you left him wandering around in the wilderness for several years until he became a total reclose pshyco!”

“Hey!” Piccolo interjected, and was ignored.

Goku furrowed his brows. “Well, it wasn’t like I was his parent or anything.”

Bulma finally let go of Piccolo’s ear and put a hand on her popped hip. “Uh, actually the only reason demon lord Piccolo even gave birth to him was because you punched a hole right through him, so technically—“

“—Don’t!” Piccolo yelled, face color even more sickly than normal. “Don’t you dare even _suggest_ it!”

“I have no idea what’s going on.” Tarble mentioned to everyone and no one at the same time. No one payed him any attention.

“Well,” Goku sniffed with a wrinkled nose, his actual son pulled close. “I was only sixteen at the time. Besides, I don’t remember you doing anything either!”

Bulma’s face went red. “Yea but I took him in later, after you were kidnapped! He’s almost not bent on world domination these days!”

Raditz and Tarble shared a look.

“…You really sure about her?” Raditz asked.

“You’ve gotta admit she’s pretty fierce.” Tarble replied.

Piccolo had gotten enough. He took to the air, where he knew Bulma couldn’t reach him, and glared down at them all. “Just because I like hanging out in your parents’ animal and nature dome doesn’t mean you’ve _domesticated_ me!” He yelled. It was peaceful there was all, there was a filtered steam, the water was cool and fresh, sometimes the cats slept on his lap. It was nice. “I’m leaving! I only came to see Goku anyway!”

With those words Piccolo flew off, with Bulma shielding her eyes from the sun to glare after him. “I bet he’s off to Kami to ask the oldtimer if he knows anything about their origins.” She said, then turned back to face the saiyans. She clapped her hands, which almost made them jump, still tense and confused from the display from before. “Well, shall we get to the weapons building?” She asked.

Goku and Raditz were still watching her warily. Raditz because he thought she was probably insane, and Goku because he _knew_ she was insane. Last time he had checked Bulma had been terrified of Piccolo. Just when had she decided to practically adopt him? The only one who looked happy about the situation was Tarble, who admired his prospective mate’s fiery personality.

Before anyone could make any moves to go inside though, the sound of a speedboat was heard. They all turned to look at the ocean. After a moment Goku frowned. There was something vaguely familiar about the ki signature approaching, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it…

Meanwhile Bulma had a pretty good idea who was crashing their party. “Aw crap. Who told Chichi?”

“Oh right, it was Chichi!” Goku exclaimed, finally recognizing the ki belonging to his would-have-been bride. Then, realizing the situation, he paled. “Oh shit, it’s Chichi! Hide me!”

Raditz, instantly alert, walked over and tried to calm his little brother down, gripping him by the shoulders and talking gently. “Don’t worry Kakarot. With an energy as low as hers, I’ll end her in a second. I’ll just grip her around the neck and—“ He motioned by clenching one fist in front of Goku’s face. “—Her head will pop right off. Like a pimple, but with more blood.”

Goku paled even further, and Tarble poked Raditz’ shoulder. “Uh, I don’t think you’re helping.”

The speed boat continued approaching quickly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always wondered what would have happened if Piccolo hadn’t been left to fend for himself as a hatchling. I mean sure, he had a ‘destroy humanity/Goku’ program implanted in his brain, but so did canon Goku, so, uh… Now he’s hanging out with Bulma because she’ll occasionally play chess with him and her company beats empty wastelands? Also, he secretly likes cats.
> 
> In other news I’m pretty tired, thanks to it being December, and like 5 people in my family having birthdays plus all the Jule associated nonsense, not to mention other things… so I don’t have as much energy /time to write right now. Sorry ‘bout that, I know you’re used to pretty fast updates. 
> 
> But!!! I was gifted fanart to cheer me up. So happy! Go here to see Goku an Gohan having belly time: https://thesauruswithnowords.tumblr.com/post/168526245345/melisauran-fanart-for-the-fanfic-walk-in-another  
> And here too see Vegeta showing up to be a menace: https://thesauruswithnowords.tumblr.com/post/166321220585/thesauruswithnowords-amdusias86-for-the-super
> 
> Merry winter time holiday of your choice!


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about Chichi in this one, really... She has had a rough time.

In the end everyone was still standing on the beach when Chichi’s speedboat came careening onto the sand, the Ox-king an unhappy tag-along behind his determined daughter. She jumped out of the boat quickly and wasted no time in stalking towards the small group.

Raditz had gotten firm orders not to kill anyone, so now he was just standing with his arms crossed and glaring. This was practical enough for Goku, who hid himself behind his brother’s broad back. He had completely forgotten about Chichi. It seemed like ages ago when they had fought at the World Martial Arts Tournament and he had agreed to marry her because of an accidental childhood promise and because he had had no reason not to. Just how could he explain this to her? ‘Yea, sorry, but I ended up marrying my kidnapper and getting pregnant, twice!’ probably wasn’t going to fly as far as excuses went, even if it was the truth.

“Goku!” She yelled.

Said saiyan winced as Chichi screamed his name, but then he noticed something odd. She hadn’t sounded angry.

Cautiously Goku poked his head out past his brother’s imposing figure, just to see Chichi running towards him, relief clear in her expression and tears in her eyes. “Oh, Goku!” She yelled again. “You’re alive!”

“I… Yea?” He said slowly, frankly thrown by the reaction. But since she didn’t seem to be in one of her moods, he slowly stepped out from behind Raditz. Seconds later Chichi came to a screeching halt in front of him, sending sand flying with her sudden stop. Goku wondered if she had noticed how he looked or Gohan, who he was still carrying. But no, Chichi seemed to be focusing on nothing but his face right now.

“I was so worried! To think some horrible alien would show up and kidnap you on our wedding day!” She grabbed his free hand, the one he wasn’t using to support his son, and squeezed it. “But I didn’t believe it! I waited for you all this time. I knew you’d come back!”

“Uhm. Yes, I’m certainly _here._ ” Goku said with an awkward laugh as he pulled his hand back. Finally his subdued response seemed to register with Chichi, and she took a step back to look at him properly. Predictably her eyes immediately settled on Gohan, who was glaring warningly at her. The sight made her breath hitch. There was absolutely no mistaking Gohan’s parentage.

“Y-you…” She stuttered, eyes wide. “Goku, you—you had a—“

“I can explain!” Goku said, holding up a hand as if that had some hope of starving off the impending explosion.

Chichi’s eyes continued widening, growing wet with even more tears, before they suddenly narrowed and her expression turned _deranged_. “You DIRTY, CHEETING, PROMISE BREAKING LIAR!!!” She screeched, and flung back a hand to slap him.

Her palm never made contact.

“That’s enough woman.” Raditz said, voice hard as he squeezed Chichi’s caught wrist warningly. “That’s the royal consort you’re trying to lay hand on. But more importantly,” He said, grip growing harsher to the point of pain. “That’s my _little brother_.”

With a furious yell Chichi tried to free herself. Goku wisely stepped back when she started kicking and fighting the mountain of a man who had caught her. Chichi might not be strong compared to a saiyan, but she was a martial artist too, and Goku could not afford to take one of her kicks to his belly. It stood too much of a chance at hurting him. He might be strong, but his baby was still small and fragile, with Goku as his only shield against the world.

Gohan was doing his baby growl at the new threat, so Goku shushed him calmingly and stroked his hair. “Easy, calm down. Let daddy deal with it, okay buddy? There’s no danger.” He spoke in a low and gentle voice into Gohan’s ear. The little boy’s growl tapered off, but he wrapped his tail around Goku’s wrist and cuddled closer nervously, eyes still on Chichi. 

Meanwhile Chichi was standing no chance against Raditz. “Unhand me you BEAST! Monster!!! LET GO!”

Raditz sneered at her. “Yea no, I don’t think so. I’ve had enough of unstable psychos coming near Kakarot.” But seeing as he couldn’t hold here there forever, and since she showed no signs of calming down, Raditz scanned the beach and quickly noticed the giant burly man who had followed after her. “Here, catch.” He said, and threw her at him.

The Ox King caught his furious daughter. “Chichi please—Calm down!” He begged.

“NO!” She yelled. “Let me GO papa!”

The Ox King didn’t, but holding her was no easy task. Once again he lamented that his daughter had such a fixation with Son Goku. The Ox King certainly liked the boy, but he had been worried about how his daughter’s emotions might not exactly be returned. She had always seemed certain that Goku would grow up and make her his bride, that he loved her and would be a wonderful husband, but the Ox King had wondered about that. The youngsters had only met a couple of times, and only very briefly, and Goku had seemed to have nothing but food and fighting on his brain during those occasions. The Ox King had been honestly been a bit startled when Chichi returned after the tournament with Goku on her arm. Even so, it seemed he had been right to feel concerned. Clearly the young man had found someone else in the passing years. It was rude, yes, and a terrible thing to do to his daughter, but even so the Ox King wasn’t terribly surprised. Back then it had only taken a day or so for Goku to start going shifty eyed, as if he was looking for an exit.

As the Ox King held back his struggling child, the others were looking between each other, wondering what to do.

“Keep your distance from her Kakarot.” Raditz warned. The woman was acting more irrationally than an alpha scorned. Saiyans at least had the decency to throw down a challenge for a proper fight instead of making sudden sneak attacks on a _pregnant_ person. Were all human women insane? Between this spitting, screaming, hellcat and the blue haired one, Raditz honestly wondered.

Goku just nodded and held Gohan close. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to scold his son for jumping Piccolo before Chichi had shown up. At least the boy had obeyed and kept himself back this time.

Tarble was standing next to Bulma, not sure what to do or how to possibly help the situation, but Bulma wasn’t as lost. With an annoyed roll of her eyes she stalked over to stand in front of Goku and Raditz, facing Chichi.

“That’s enough, don’t you think?” Bulma said, hands on her hips, already done with the other woman’s antics. “I know this wasn’t what you hoped for, but it’s already happened, and attacking Goku won’t change it.”

“I’m going to make him PAY!” Chichi screeched, eyes wild as she fought. “I waited for him, for years! All this time spent, and then he found someone else, some harlot out in space when his fiancée was right here!” Now her tears were flowing again, but that didn’t stop her from kicking viciously at her father’s legs.

Bulma crossed her arms, an annoyed expression on her face. Don’t get her wrong, almost five years ago this show would have moved her, in fact it _had_ moved her when they had informed Chichi of what had happened and the woman had broken down in tears. Feeling bad for the other, Bulma had even invited Chichi to her home and they had hung out several times. However, as they had continued meeting, Bulma had soon begun to see a disturbing side to her new friend.

Chichi’s view of Goku had been skewed, to say the least. While the dark haired princess had certainly admired his strength, she had also spoken of Goku’s chivalry, his intelligence, his responsibility, how he loved her and was probably pining for her in wherever horrible place he was being held captive. She had said she heard his voice in her dreams, assuring her that he would always love her and would definitely return to her.

It had been in complete conflict with everything Bulma knew about her friend. Goku was not chivalrous, in fact Bulma doubted he even knew what the word meant, which scratched off intelligent in the traditional sense too. As for responsibilities, Goku was known to actively run away from those unless they involved getting stronger. Then there was the fact that Goku hadn’t even remembered who Chichi w _as_ when they met again, not to mention how he had run away from her just days later to hang out at Roshi’s place. All in all, it hadn’t taken long for Bulma to realize that Chichi was in love with a version of Goku that just didn’t exist.

When Bulma had cautiously tried to bring this up with the other woman, Chichi had called her a liar, then accused her of being interested in Goku herself when Bulma persevered. Finally Chichi had tried to slap her for ‘coming between her and Goku’ and after that Bulma had gotten quite enough. After that mess, she had deliberately not told Chichi when Goku was suspected to return. She couldn’t be sure who _had_ , but it was probably Yamcha. The fool was naively convinced that Chichi was a nice girl, who was just passionate. He was not a good judge of character when it came to women, the idiot.

“I told you he didn’t see things the same way as you!” Bulma now yelled at her, acknowledging that her own anger from their bad parting was still there, but that it didn’t make her words any less true. “You _knew_ there was a chance he would come back different.” Though how different, no one had suspected. “And for your information, he didn’t find another woman. _Goku_ was the one who gave birth to that kid.”

This finally seemed to stop Chichi short, and her eyes widened as she swirled her head around to look at Goku. “You’re lying.” She said, refusing to make the connection her former fiancée’s big belly and the child he was carrying. “He’s a MAN! You’re just saying that to cover for him! He betrayed me!” She finished with a wail.

Bulma gritted her teeth and started gearing up to yell back, but before she could a warm hand landed on her shoulder. “Bulma.” Goku said, eyes earnest when she turned to look at him. “Let me do it, please.”

Reluctantly, Bulma stepped back and crossed her arms, biting her tongue for now. Meanwhile Goku walked forward until he was closer to the crying Chichi, but not in reach.

He took a deep breath. “Chichi. I’m sorry, but I’ve gotten married to someone else. A guy in fact.” Even if the only wedding like thing they had ever done had been to share a sixteen layered cake. It didn’t change the fact that mating was just as binding.  

At those words Chichi slumped in her father’s arms and just hang there, staring at Goku with wide bloodshot eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I… I know this is a bad way to find out, but I’m not sure us marrying would have been a good thing anyway, so maybe it’s for the best.” Goku said slowly, hating to see what his words were doing to Chichi, but seeing no other way. He sighed again, and moved his toddler so he was resting more firmly on his diminishing hip. “This is my son Gohan, and Bulma was right, I’m his mom. In fact I’m also pregnant with my next kid.” He said, gesturing to his belly for proof.

“N-no—But…!” Chichi said, stuttering as her eyes whipped back and forth between Goku’s big belly and Gohan. “Th-that’s all wrong Goku! You’re a man, and you love me! You definitely wouldn’t marry another guy or-or get pregnant!” She shook her head. “That’s… It’s too disgusting! It’s not true!”

Goku took a startled step back. Disgusting? But… Having children like this was normal for saiyans! Of course it might seem weird to humans, but that didn’t make him _disgusting…_ Right? Except, now Goku couldn’t help remembering how he had thought when he first heard about saiyan reproduction, and about being a beta. He had hated it, and thought that it was, well… that it was disgusting.

“Can’t you see Goku?!” Chichi begged. “They brainwashed you! They tortured you and implanted false memories – this ‘husband’ of yours is nothing but your tormenter!”

This finally snapped Goku out of it. “Don’t call Vegeta that.” He growled, voice like steel. “He’s my mate, and I chose him over everyone else. Including you.”

“N-no.” Chichi shook her head, tears still flowing. “Why are you saying all these mean things Goku?! You love me!”

“I’m sorry Chichi, but I really don’t.” Goku said, eyes downcast. “I apologize for breaking my promise, but I never felt like that about you.”

“……That’s a lie.” Chichi whispered, voice breaking. “THAT’S A LIE!” She screamed.

Goku winced at the volume, but then turned around on his heel and marched towards the inside of the house before he could lose his temper and either cry or snap at her. There was no more to say anyway. First Turles, then this… Rejecting someone always felt horrible. Goku had never suffered unrequited love, and for that he was grateful. It made people crazy in some really bad ways.

The others watched in silence as Goku left together with his son.

“…So, can I shoot her now?” Raditz asked in a bland voice.

Tarble sighed. “No Raditz, you can’t kill her just because Goku went inside.”

“Pity.” Raditz muttered.

“Stop that.” Bulma snapped, still upset by the whole display, but able to see the issues underneath it all. “I know she said some bad things, but she’s clearly not well. She should have gotten help, not been left to deal with a crush that turned into a pop-idol like reverence, complete with fantasies of true love and marriage, until it finally morphed into a fixation.”

Raditz snorted at Bulma’s psychological analysis of Chichi and looked away. “Is that all it takes for a human’s mind to break? You creatures are so fragile. Still, it’s your own fault, flinging words like ‘love’ around so casually.” At least saiyans knew that love drew you crazy, and that it was a dangerous thing to feel.

“Yea well excuse us, but we can’t all be big, scary, unfeeling, space monkeys!” Bulma retorted, still upset and willing to take it out on Raditz, unaware of what kind of minefield she was hitting. There were certain racial slurs which should just not be said in front of saiyans.

Raditz whirled around with blazing eyes, fangs bared. “What did you just call us you bitch?!”

Bulma meeped and stumbled back, taken off guard by the sudden aggression. “What’s your problem!?” She yelled back, frightened but not cowed.

“Stop this!” Tarble said, stepping between his friend and… Whatever Bulma was, or had potential to be, to him. “She didn’t know Raditz. There’s no way she _could_ know what that means.”

“Hmpf. Well she’d better learn, or she won’t last long.” He snapped back.

“I… What did I say?” Bulma asked, figuring out that she had miss-stepped somehow but not sure why it had resulted in such a strong reaction.

Tarble sighed and turned to her. “Just stay away from monkey related comparisons, okay? It’s a slur.”

“Oh…” Bulma said, and couldn’t help blushing. She had used to call Goku ‘monkey boy’ on a regular basis when they were kids. “Got it. Sorry…” She muttered the last words towards Raditz, who just huffed and didn’t look at her. She might have her work cut out for her there.

Meanwhile Chichi was still alternating between sobbing in despair, calling out for Goku, and denying that said man had left her loudly and repeatedly. The Ox-King had heard what Bulma had said, and his heart felt heavy with guilt under the accidental accusation. It was true that he should have paid more attention to his daughter, instead of writing off all her actions as a result of youth. He took a shuddering breath, and with a mumbled sorry he then gently knocked Chichi out, making sure to aim for pressure points that would afford her little pain.

The three others noticed when the noise finally cut off, and all turned to watch as the Ox King gently picked up his only child in a bridal carry and stepped towards them. “I’m… I’m terribly sorry for the inconvenience we’ve caused. I never realized how bad…” He trailed off for a moment, then closed his eyes. “No, I never _wanted_ to realize how bad she had gotten. I’ll make sure she gets help if she needs it. Please, tell Goku that I’m sorry.”

The boy might have broken the promise of marriage, and his daughter’s heart, but her ensuing reaction had really been a bit over the top, not even allowing him to explain before trying to attack. 

Smiling sadly, Bulma stepped closer. “I will. I’m sorry too, I couldn’t help her either, and I didn’t think to talk with you. But perhaps now that her delusion has been firmly ripped away from her, she’ll get better and manage to fall in love in a healthy way, with a person instead of a fantasy.” She said, trying to cheer the big man up.            

The Ox King sniffled, a tear almost escaping, and bowed his head to them before lumbering back towards the speed boat. As a father, he made a vow to help his daughter get better. Chichi would find her happiness too, once her demons were vanquished, of that he would make sure.

Once the speed boat was leaving, the two saiyans finally un-tensed, and Bulma sighed. “Well, so much for having fun while waiting for Krillin. I don’t know about you two, but I’m done with drama for the day.”

Tarble nodded, but Raditz just snorted. “You made a bad choice being friends with Kakarot then. The drama surrounding him is constant.”

“…Touché.”

“We should go check on him.” Tarble said, mindful of how his friend had looked when he left.

Raditz groaned but agreed. It was better to cheer Kakarot up now, rather to face a hormonal breakdown later. His brother did not deal well with stuff like this on a normal day, but he was a disaster at it while pregnant.

 

xXx

 

Goku was sitting curled up on the couch, as much as he could be with an almost eight month belly in the way, while Gohan was cuddling up to him, rubbing his head against his mother’s chest and neck while whining and just generally trying to incite a positive reaction so his daddy wouldn’t smell so upset anymore.

Goku kept a calming hand on his son’s back, but didn’t really respond to his ministrations otherwise. He had already asked Gohan why he had jumped Piccolo, to which the cub had answered that he had found him lurking in the bushes and since he didn’t seem to be one of his daddy’s friends, Gohan had figured he wasn’t included in the ‘no attack’ rule. Better safe than sorry when you found weird people lurking near your family.

Really, his kid’s occasional resemblance to Vegeta was stressing Goku out. At least Gohan and Piccolo were roughly the same power level right now, or he would have had to scold his son for biting over more than he could chew.    

The door to the room opened, and to Goku’s mild surprise Bulma was the one who entered together with Raditz. His older brother didn’t greet Goku, he just walked over and snatched Gohan up. The boy tried to twist free, wanting to stay with his mother, but his uncle wasn’t having it. “We’re gonna go play in the sand.” He informed the room at large. “Good luck.” He told Bulma on the way out. She was the one who had drawn the shortest straw so to speak, since she knew more about the whole Chichi situation, and Raditz relished not being the emotional support for once.

The door slammed behind Raditz and Gohan, who was wailing in complaint, which left Bulma and Goku alone.

Frankly Goku was a bit relieved that Raditz had taken Gohan. He needed a moment away from his son to collect himself, and it was hard to get that with a determined toddler clinging like a limpet.

“So that was dramatic, huh?” Bulma tried to joke, but it fell a bit flat. When Goku didn’t respond, she sat down next to him on the couch and put a comforting hand on his leg.

“…..Bulma?”

“Yes?”

Goku fiddled with his hands. “Do you think I’m disgusting?”

“Wha—“ Bulma’s eyes widened, and she remembered what Chichi had said. “No! Of course not! What you’re doing, being pregnant, it’s completely normal for your species, I’m sure.”

“Yea but…” Goku curled up further. “To humans it’s probably weird and disgusting, right? I mean, I’m not sure if I remember right, but I don’t even think humans like two guys being together, right?”

“That’s…” Bulma bit her lip. She wasn’t really sure where Goku had gotten that impression, but unfortunately it wasn’t entirely wrong. “It depends a bit on the races. Some of the animal people don’t really care, and I think the men in the northern bat-clan can even nurse their young, so it’s not like there aren’t people on Earth who’s a bit like you.” She squeezed Goku’s leg. “But even if there wasn’t, it doesn’t matter, because you’re a saiyan, your friends accept you, and you have a family who clearly loves you very much.”

This managed to make Goku smile a bit. “Don’t let them catch you saying that. Somehow most saiyans are convinced that love is some sort of weakness that makes you act weird.” He chuckled, but then it slowly turned into a frown. “But I guess after today, I can kinda see how they could have gotten that idea.”

“Goku that wasn’t—“ Bulma broke of and sighed. “What Chichi felt, or feels, for you, that isn’t love, okay? Maybe she had a normal crush once, but it became some sort of fixation with a version of you that didn’t even exist. Frankly it’s probably a good thing you didn’t get together, or you would both have been miserable once she figured out how different you were from the person she imagined.”

Goku pursed his lips. “I guess. I feel really bad about hurting her, but I don’t regret being together with Vegeta. Even if he’s a jerk with control issues who doesn’t listen sometimes, he’s…” Goku trailed off, unsure how to explain. “It makes me feel warm to be with him. Like eating a nice meal, but my chest is what’s full instead of my stomach.”

It was such a Goku explanation that Bulma laughed. “Yea, see _that’s_ love. You want him even with his bad parts.”

This startled Goku a bit. “Love?” He repeated. “I… That means I love him?”

Bulma went bug-eyed and stared. “Are you serious right now?” She asked after a moment. “You’ve been married for what, almost five years, and you never thought about whether you loved him or not?!”

“Uh, not really?” Goku said hesitantly. “I mean I probably just felt it, or whatever. I didn’t really think about it.”

“So you never told him that you love him?” Bulma demanded to know. “He never told you?”

Tilting his head, Goku thought about it. “Hmm, no. It didn’t really come up? Probably because it’s embarrassing to saiyans, and I just didn’t think about it really. I know he likes me, and that he’d defend me and our cubs with his life if I should fail, so I guess I never really needed more than that…” Aside from Vegeta acknowledging and respecting him as a warrior, which even to this day, Goku had his doubts about.

It probably stemmed all the way back from the first times they had fought, when Vegeta had batted him around like a cat with a wounded mouse, just playing with him and not taking him seriously at all. Despite being on the same battle field, and Goku even surpassing Vegeta in power for a long time, Vegeta had never seriously acknowledged him by his own accord. For Vegeta, Goku was in many ways not equal to him. He was someone to be protected, treasured, but he was also born a third class, which Vegeta had gotten beaten into his head meant weaker all throughout his upbringing. Even if the alpha thought he respected Goku just as much as he would any other warrior with his powers, Goku knew that subconsciously he didn’t see them as the same. It had taken him a long time to put words to the feelings though. In fact it was only after their fight on Zelua that Goku realized, and even though Vegeta had apologized and said he didn’t mean it… Well, if he didn’t mean it, why say it at all? At least part of Vegeta had to think like that.

“….Goku?”

“Ah, sorry.” With a shake of his head, Goku snapped himself out of it. “I was just thinking about Vegeta. We, uh… We had a fight a while back. I just remembered it.”

“Is that why you came here alone?” Bulma inquired.

She asked it innocently enough, but somehow the question still made Goku freeze up. “Ah, no, that isn’t why…”

It wasn’t, right? It was just better that Vegeta didn’t know about the Dragon Balls, because he would—He would do something. Probably. Maybe. Possibly….

Goku but his lip. He didn’t want to examine his reasoning too closely. Even so, perhaps it was because he was emotional after his meeting with Chichi, or still somewhat shaken after Turles had made him realize how much danger he had put himself and his family in, but it was hard to ignore. Back at Base One, his reasons had seemed to make sense, but now, with more distance, it was becoming harder and harder to make them sound true.

“So why?” Bulma asked. From Goku’s expression she had realized that she had stumbled over something that troubled Goku, and she was curious to get to the bottom of it.

Goku felt nervous sweat gathering at his nape, the answers springing to mind before he could block them. “I wanted…” ‘ _To prove I could do it myself. To go back here. To show him that I’m **not** weak._ ’

As soon as the thoughts slipped out, it was like the floodgates opened, and with a shuddering breath Goku squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to finish the line of thought, even though he had suppressed it for so long.

The truth was that he hadn’t trusted Vegeta not to stop him, and for Goku, that would have been like being told to his face that Vegeta didn’t trust _him_ to do this, even with the help of their army or guards or together with Vegeta himself.

It had conflicted with all of Goku’s wants, so he had subconsciously made excuses to why he _had_ to be the one to go instead of a saiyan delegation or Vegeta.

Bulma wouldn’t borrow them the dragon radar? Probably not true. If she had just been able to talk to Goku, she probably would have.

Vegeta or the other saiyans would misuse the dragon balls? Well, Goku couldn’t speak for all saiyans, but his mate… Vegeta probably wouldn’t. Not if it risked his relationship with Goku, or other saiyans learning of the balls and using them against him.                              

Earth being dragged into the fighting? At this rate, it was not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’. Earth was a fertile planet with a weak people in a corner of the Milky Way where neither side had bases yet. Hell, in a few more years Goku might have led an official Coalition delegation to negotiate with Earth’s leaders, assuming the planet hadn’t already come under fire by then. 

The time for people on planet Vegeta running out? That much was true at least, but the same went for Goku himself. He was getting closer to birth, and secretly, he was terrified. These last months he had suffered recurring nightmares of dying in childbirth, over and over again, until he woke up gasping for breath, convinced he was already on a gurney and bleeding out. It seemed like such a stupid thing to have a trauma over, considering all the other ways Goku had almost died in his life, but giving birth to Gohan… There had been something so final about it. There hadn’t been an enemy for Goku to defeat, just his body and a natural occurrence almost killing him, where no demon lord, army or pirate had managed before. He had felt helpless and caught, and now it was going to happen again.

“Goku? Goku!” Bulma was calling his name, and shaking his arm. “You’re hyperventilating. _Calm down_. Breathe with me, okay? Come on.”

She started breathing, trying to coax him through it, but it didn’t help at all. More the opposite in fact, since it actually just reminded Goku more of being in labor, dark spots dancing in front of his eyes and an oxygen tube being placed under his nose, Vegeta telling him to _breathe._   

It wasn’t something he could flee from, it would happen no matter where to or how far he ran, but gods, Goku had still tried. Stupidly, driven by a mix of genuinely wanting to help but also desperation to no longer be held captive, not by the war, not by Vegeta and not by his own _body_ , he had run away.  

“Bulma…” He croaked, through a throat thick with unshed tears.

“Goku?” She gripped his hand and squeezed it. “What—“

“I’m such an idiot.” He half sobbed, voice breaking.

Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about?” She asked. She had never seen Goku this emotional before, but she was hesitant to merely put it down to pregnancy mood swings. Her friend had seemed too thoughtful, almost like he was realizing some things and then suddenly like he was reliving something bad. His eyes had been far away, almost like he was having a panic attack. But what in the world would be able to scare her crazy strong friend like that?

Goku hugged himself and sniffled, but refused to cry. It was too damn late to cry now. “There’s just a lot of things I haven’t dealt with,” He tried to excuse. “…and all the people who keep screaming at me and demanding things aren’t helping.”

Turles, Chichi, even his brother and Tarble did it, and Vegeta was certainly guilty of it as well. Up until now he had just been reacting to all the things he didn’t want to do, without considering what he _did_ want and how he would subconsciously go about trying to get it, even if he thought he was doing something else. “It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve had time to just sit around and think, and I… Now I’m finally here, but it doesn’t change anything, does it?” Goku asked with a mirthless laugh.

Really, bravo to himself. He was certainly on Earth and about to help his planet, but that elusive sense of freedom he had been chasing? Yea, it wasn’t here. It wasn’t anywhere on Earth in fact, and Goku didn’t know if that was because it no longer existed for him, or because he didn’t feel he deserved it.

“You’re about to change a lot of things Goku, for a lot of people.” Bulma assured him, unsure what else to say.

“Yea, myself included.” He said, and wiped his sore eyes. Then he changed the subject. “Krillin’s almost back. I can feel his ki.” And that meant breakdown time was over. Time to sucker up and deal again, even if dealing meant temporarily repressing everything.

Goku stood up, making sure to move slowly so he wouldn’t topple over from dizziness after sitting down and hyperventilating. Then he looked at Bulma, who was watching him with concern. Goku didn’t address her unasked questions, or the reasons for his brief breakdown. Instead he plastered on a brittle smile and held out his hand to her.

“Let’s go summon a dragon.

 

xXx

 

It had gotten windier outside. Master Roshi’s island might be placed in a tropical zone, but being in the ocean still meant cool winter winds blowing past every now and then. Goku had sort of given up on trying to look presentable at this point. With his eyes red from suppressed tears, his pale face, messy hair and waddling gait, there was little else to add, so he had taken a flower patterned blanket from the couch and was using it as an ugly cape to keep warm.

Of course Raditz noticed as soon as Goku joined them outside. “Making a fashion statement little brother?” He teased.

“At least I have a personal style.” Goku retorted, making sure to keep his voice light. “I’ve never seen you in anything but armor and pajamas.”

Raditz snorted. “Those things you wear every day, all the silk with the gold embroidery and what not, that’s just because Vegeta likes it, since it makes you look like a proper consort.” Albeit not one you’d suspect to be equal with the crown prince strength wise. Goku looked and dressed too prettily for that. It threw people off, much to the beta’s amusement. “ _You_ couldn’t care less as long as it’s lose and comfortable.”

“I have color preferences.” Goku argued.

“I know. They’re horrible.” Who preferred orange and blue? Well, blue wasn’t bad, in fact it was one of the royal colors, but usually Goku was forced to wear something in redder shades, another royal color, instead of screaming orange. Raditz was silently grateful for this, since his brother could be annoying enough already and really didn’t need to add to it with his offensive color choices.

“Oh yea, I forgot your preference for looking like a walking traffic cone. “ Bulma noted teasingly, having arrived outside together with Goku. She kept mum about what had happened inside, partially because she wasn’t even sure what it had been about. One minute they had been talking about Goku’s relationship with his husband, and the next moment her friend had zoned out, completely lost in his own head until he started panicking. It bothered her, but Goku wouldn’t tell. He wasn’t the type to let you in on his inner workings.

While the brothers and Bulma talked, Tarble was busy building a sand castle with Gohan, who had cheered back up by now, but wouldn’t allow his other uncle to play with them, since Raditz was the one who had dragged him away from his daddy. Luckily the offense would likely soon be forgotten.

Shielding his eyes against the sunlight, Goku looked up and spotted Krillin’s approaching figure. “You get them all?” Goku yelled to him when he got close enough.

“One was in a flying raptor’s nest.” Krillin complained as he landed. “Why is it always in the freaking raptor nests? What’s their deal?” He asked as he patted off his dirty and ripped clothes, then handed Goku the bag with the balls. “So? Do you know what to wish for?”

“Yea, I think I’ve got it.” Goku said, heart beating fast from excitement. He might have realized his own not completely pure motives, but it had always been true that he wanted to help his people. Now he could, and perhaps it would make up for his mistakes, at least a little bit.

He waved at his brother and Tarble, motioning for them to come closer, then started laying out the already glowing balls. “Let me make the wish, okay?” Goku said as they joined him.

“Those are the things we came all this way for?” Raditz asked, looking skeptically at the orbs. “Doesn’t look like much.”

Goku grinned. “You’ll be surprised.”

Balls laid out in the sand, Goku stepped back and then picked up his son, since Gohan had noticed him and had abandoned his sandcastle in favor of climbing his daddy.

“Come forth ShenLong and grant my wish!”

Immediately the sky grew dark, clouds gathering and lighting striking. Fierce wind started blowing and the Dragon Balls glowed with a strong almost blinding light. Then, finally, the dragon shot out of the light and its giant form rose to the swirling skies, its body twisting and curling. It focused on the gathered people on the beach and spoke with a booming voice. “I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON SHENLONG. STATE YOUR WISH!”

Goku took a brief moment to glance at his brother and Tarble, and saw how they had predictably both dropped their jaws, eyes wide as they looked upon the dragon god. He smiled at their awe, then stepped forward and swallowed before talking. “I’m Son Goku, known as Kakarot among my people. On the outer reaches of the Northern Quadrant is a world called Planet Vegeta. The people there suffer from hunger due to a long draught and the planet’s low fertility.” Goku took a deep breath. “So if you could somehow make the planet more fertile, with lotsa food and animals, that’d be great. If there’s not enough different plants on Planet Vegeta, things or animals from Earth works too!” 

The eternal dragon moved closer, and seemed to gaze almost thoughtfully at him, its giant red eyes fathomless. “I REMEMBER YOU…” It said. Then Shenlong straightened back up again, its ruby eyes pulsing with a red glow. “I DO NOT KNOW IF I CAN GRANT THIS WISH, BUT I WILL TRY.”

Everyone held their breaths as Shenlong’s eyes started glowing brighter and the lightning picked up. _‘Please work.’_ Goku begged silently, terrified that they had come this far for nothing.

“IT IS DONE.” Shenlong boomed. “FARE THE WELL!”

With those words the dragon dissolved into light, which transformed into the dragon balls. Seconds later the orbs, now merely stone, shot off and scattered all across the globe.

Goku let out a sigh from relief and dropped down on the sand, his legs feeling like jelly. “It worked!” He said, laughing as he held Gohan close. Shenlong had done it, their people were saved! It was such a big burden to have suddenly taken from him, that Goku felt like he could almost float away. He felt so happy to have succeeded, the worries on his mind still there, but not hampering his joy right now. All the saiyans were going to live. His mom was going to be okay!

“D-did it?” Tarble stuttered, eyes still wide and stuck on where the dragon had been. “I mean, can we know for sure…?”

Bulma smacked his arm lightly. “If Shenlong said he did it, you can bet it’s true. He’s not a trickster or a liar, even though…” She turned to Goku. “You’re lucky he remembered you. I’m not sure he’d have cared for such a badly worded request otherwise.”

Goku blinked at her. “What do you mean? I think I did it fine.”

Bulma clasped her hands together and mimicked Goku’s voice. “So if you could somehow make lotsa food and animals, that’d be great!” She let her hands drop and sent him a look. “Really, you’re so informal, even when speaking to a god.”

Goku just scratched his head and laughed. “Well, it worked!”

Meanwhile Raditz was slowly picking up his jaw. “That was… Wow.” He said, lost for words. He turned and looked at Goku. “So now what, are we done?”

Shrugging, Goku picked Gohan off his lap so he could get back up. “I guess so. We need fresh provisions, but other than that…”

Aside from that they really couldn’t afford to linger. It had already been near seven days since they left Base One, and Vegeta was sure to have noticed that they were missing by now. Goku sighed at the thought. He missed his mate, but Goku doubted that meeting back up with him was going to be pleasant. At this rate the least of Goku’s punishments would be facing a long incarceration ordered by Vegeta, and really, he wouldn’t even have any room to object.  

“Wait, you’re leaving already?” Krillin broke in to ask. “But you just got here!”

With a gentle smile, Goku clasped his friend’s shoulder. “I know, but… Well, we’re in the middle of a war, and staying here isn’t exactly safe, plus-“ He motioned towards his belly. “I don’t have long to go. I really need to get back.”

Krillin slumped, a sad frown on his face. “I get that, but I just… I guess I always thought that when you came back, you’d be back for good, you know?”

Goku squeezed his shoulder. “I know. But my family’s out there, together with a lot of bad guys who needs punching.” He smiled. “Once I’m done with that though, I’ll definitely come visit. Maybe you guys can even visit planet Vegeta one day!”

This cheered Krillin up a little. “He, I guess visiting alien royalty on another planet could be cool… Just promise me that your crazy husband won’t try to kill me.”

Goku laughed. “I’ll try!”

“I’d be more comfortable if you promised to _succeed_.” Krillin muttered.      

Bulma sighed. She understood why they had to go back, but… She glanced at Tarble. So much for that, she guessed. Somehow she didn’t think romance took a higher priority for a prince than an intergalactic war did.

Tarble noticed her looking and gave her an apologetic smile. “We’ll be back. Maybe even before the war is over. I’m really interested in your capsule technology; I think it could be very useful to us. Maybe we could set up some sort of trade agreement?”

“Now you definitely have my attention.” Bulma replied with a grin. Maybe there was still a chance.

Suddenly Goku turned and looked at them. “Why don’t you just stay Tarble?”

“Eh?” Tarble said, surprised.

“I think it’d be a good idea.” Goku continued. “That way Vegeta has a chance to calm down; otherwise he might end up killing you.”

“What? Why me!?” Tarble protested, but even though he said that, he knew. Vegeta would never do anything to Goku with the state he was in, and Raditz had been dragged along forcefully which meant he was fairly excused. Meanwhile Gohan was 3 and not responsible for anything, whereas Tarble had willingly gone along with Goku’s schemes. While Vegeta might not aim to kill Tarble, instead focusing on maiming him until a healing tank could just barely save him, death could indeed be the result if Vegeta lost his temper completely, which was likely, given that his pregnant mate had just gallivanted across the universe with their tiny cub in tow.

But still.

“How would I get back?” Tarble asked, a bit wild eyed. “I’d be stuck here!”

“Aww, no. We’d just send an unmanned Attack Ball to you once we get back. You can program those things to fly anywhere, and since there’d be only you, then you can just take that back once you’re ready.” Goku reasoned.

That actually wasn’t a horrible idea, but Tarble still wasn’t comfortable with it. He stepped closer to his brother in law, eyebrows downturned. “I don’t want to leave you, or for you to go back by yourself. You’re already too vulnerable.” Tarble argued.

“I don’t think one person more or less will make much difference.” Goku said with a smirk.

“You’d be surprised.” Raditz broke into the conversation to say, arms crossed and sending a frown his brother’s way. “Sometimes one person is all it takes.”

Goku looked upwards with a sigh. “Fine, fine… We’ll let Tarble decide then!”

“Uh.” Tarble said, looking back and forth between a hopeful Bulma and his family. “I mean… Maybe… Perhaps it’d be okay if I stayed?” He said slowly, unsure. “Getting capsule technology could be a big boon and perhaps starting to work with the Earthlings would be smarter to do now, instead of waiting ‘til they’re already in trouble.”

Raditz looked unhappy with the decision, but Goku laughed. “That’s the spirit!”

Tarble bit his lip and looked down. Both Bulma and Goku might look happy, but a big part of him still didn’t feel it was a good idea. “Then again, maybe Raditz is right and—“

“Naw.” Goku broke him off with a clap on the shoulder. “You stay here for now. We’ll send an Attack Ball to take you back once it’s safe for you. Until then we can always call each other.” Luckily there was no shield around Earth which interfered with long range communication like there was around Planet Vegeta.

“Right…”

Decision made, Goku turned towards the house. “I’ll go wake master Roshi to say bye. Can we borrow some money to go shopping for Bulma? I sent out drones, but fresh things won’t last us long in space.”

“Sure, I’ll just put it on your tab.” She said with a wink.

“I just want to say—“ Raditz spoke up, measuring his words carefully. “That I disagree with this decision and that I think you’re all idiots. Also, I’m not going shopping.”

“Sure you’re not.” Goku responded with a purr, eyes gleaming with mischief. 

Raditz paled.

 

xXx

 

“Supermarkets are hell-pits.” Raditz spat as he sat in the ship’s control chair, arms crossed and fuming.

“Aww come on, you liked that chili-dog you got to eat, didn’t you?” Goku replied, already busy putting in coordinates. “People wouldn’t have stared so much or tried to take pictures if you had just agreed to change out of your armor. They thought you were part of an event.” Meanwhile Goku had been mistaken for a woman, and had just run with it for easiness sake. At this point he just wanted to get home and comfortable, and some humans’ misconception really wasn’t enough to bother him.   

Raditz bristled. “This is proper mission wear! Not that _you_ would know you damn rule breaker.”

Goku snorted, finished the inputs and sat back in his own chair where he did a spin and then faced his brother. “We’ll be back soon. I promise I’ll give you a shoulder massage then as apology.”

“I’ve earned shoulder massages whenever I want them for the next five years _at least_ with all the shit you put me through.” Raditz grumped. “Let’s just go already. I can’t believe how long it took you to say goodbye.”

“Haha…” It had indeed taken a while, his friends reluctant to part with him and Tarble going back and forth on whether he should stay or not every two minutes. In the end Bulma had slipped her hand into Tarble’s, which had rather effectively shut him up, the prince going tomato red and completely losing his train of thought. Goku had thought it was hilarious.

Of course he would have felt better if Tarble had joined them on the way back, but there really was a chance that Vegeta would lose it and do something regrettable. Goku knew that he had put his mate through an emotional hell by doing this, and though before he had justified it to himself, now he just felt like shit, not to mention really, really guilty.

“…I think I’ll go check on Gohan.” Goku said, feeling suddenly more subdued. His little boy was sleeping in his and Goku’s bunk, completely tuckered out after the day he had had. At the supermarket he had tried vanilla pudding for the first time and had gotten it all over himself in his glee. Goku wasn’t surprised by that; he had craved vanilla fiercely while he was pregnant with Gohan, even though he had never been able to get any.

“Take a nap or something.” Raditz said dismissively. “I’ll guide us out.”

Goku went to do just that.

Inside their bunk Gohan was spread out on the bed like a starfish, which made Goku smile. He scooted his son closer to the wall and climbed in too, then put an arm around Gohan and closed his eyes. He drew in his cub’s familiar scent and sighed. Somehow Gohan still smelled faintly like his father. Even though Goku knew Vegeta would be furious with him, and rightly so, he still couldn’t wait to see him. At least Vegeta was bound to be happy about the changes to planet Vegeta.

Goku wondered… Had the people there noticed it yet?

He thought about his mom, how she would now be able to eat all she wanted. He couldn’t wait to see Gine liven back up and regain some color in her cheeks and meat on her bones. As for his father… Goku didn’t look forward to the scolding Bardock was going to give him, especially since he was admittedly a little scared of his dad. But at least the visions his dad had seen hadn’t come true. Maybe it had been a fluke or, more likely, Goku had done something that changed the course of history.

Whatever the case, he was certainly still alive and well. Not that he could imagine who could have even had the strength to harm him on Earth. Aside from his friends, Piccolo was the strongest one there, and he seemed to have mellowed quite a bit.

Goku pulled his blankets over his shoulders and sighed as he sank deeper into the mattress. Well, whatever. It didn’t matter anymore. Right now all he had to do was sleep and try to take it easy until they got back to Base One. He looked forward to going home.

 

xXx

 

**Planet Vegeta:**

Bardock was plagued by restless dreams, the shapeless, painful and feverish kind that he got when a vision was brewing. With a hiss he pulled himself from sleep, sat up and rubbed his brow. “Gine?” He called hoarsely, hoping his mate was nearby and would be willing to make him some pain relief tea. She wasn’t next to him for some reason, even though it was only just sunrise and Gine had never been an early riser.

With a frown Bardock climbed out of their bed-furs and on stiff legs he staggered towards their den where the fireplace was. This room turned out to be empty too though, the heart cold. Bardock looked at the ashes, then followed a strip of morning light until his gaze settled on the half open front door. “Gine…?” He called again, while slowly moving closer to the exit.

She might not have answered before, but when Bardock stepped outside and was blinded by the morning sun, he heard her speak with awe in her voice.

“Bardock, look! It’s—It’s a miracle!”

“It’s too fucking early for miracles.” Bardock said, still squinting. There was a strange smell in the air. Something like flowers, fruits and water… Not something he had ever smelled on planet Vegeta before. When his eyes finally adjusted, the sight that greeted him was even more impossible. Finally he understood what Gine had meant with ‘miracle’. 

Right there in their garden, which was normally a barren earth pit, stood a giant tree, heavy red fruits weighing down its branches. Underneath it the normally red dirt was covered in green grasses and small white flowers, the lush undergrowth stretching like a bright blanket as far as the eyes reached. When Bardock looked around further, wide-eyed and disbelieving, he saw that there was also berry bushes and a plethora or other plants, very few of which he knew.

There was even the faint scent of strange beast on the wind, grass eaters it smelled like.

“How in the hell…” He breathed, too shocked to move.

Gine was already skipping around in their garden and yelling to their neighbors who had also started waking up and coming outside, and who were just as surprised and wide-eyed as Bardock was. Quickly the residential area filled with saiyans, all in varied sleep rumpled states, who were wandering around in a half dazed state and simply watching their suddenly extremely lush and fertile planet with gobsmacked expressions.

Not long after, Gine came back to him, tears in her eyes. “It’s Ludz. It has to be Bardock, who else but a god could—?”

“Kakarot.” The name left Bardock’s lips before he had even thought about it. He just knew. “Kakarot is responsible for this. I don’t know how he did it, but it’s definit—ngh!” Bardock cut off and fell to his one knee, zinging pain stabbing through his skull.

“Bardock!” Gine fell to her own knees next to him and supported his weight, her hands gentle on him. “Are you having a vision?”

“That dumbass brat! He must have left despite what I said.” Bardock managed to ground out right before the vision took him and he seized, going rigid in Gine’s hold. It looked frightening, his eyes wide open and unseeing while his body spasmed. Gine was used to it, but she had never managed to dislike it less. There was nothing she could do for Bardock like this, aside from staying by his side.

Bardock’s episode attracted the attention of some of their neighbors, and several came closer, probably assuming that Bardock’s vision would have something to do with their changed world.

Gine ignored their stares and held her mate close, smoothing his hair back comfortingly, even though she knew he couldn’t feel it. Finally, after several minutes, Bardock’s body went limp again and he breathed harshly, as if he had been running. Sometimes he stayed out of it for a while after a vision, but this time he struggled until his eyes opened.

“What did you see?” Gine asked. “Was it the same one as before, the one where Kakarot—?“ _Dies_ … She didn’t say it. Technically Bardock hadn’t told her, but she knew. As his mate and as Kakarot’s mother, she just knew.

Slowly, Bardock turned his pale face until his eyes focused on hers. They were wet and full of fear. “No it’s… Oh fuck.” He cursed, voice horse. “Our boys… I’m sorry Gine. _It’s so much worse._ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun dun.....
> 
> My internet router died yesterday, so it looks like I won't have any internet connection aside from on my mobile before the 9'th of January. Sigh... I'm borrowing my parents internet to upload this, since I was visiting anyway, and I live close to a McDonald's (Free wifi!) but damn, this is such a nuisance. 
> 
> Action picking up next chapter.


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Right when everything seemed to be going so well…

 

Goku was woken up by alarms blaring through the ship. He sat up quickly, head swimming from the sudden motion. He had been up to use the toilet just an hour before, and everything had been calm then. Raditz had been on the bridge, in front of the controls, tired but still alert.

Goku got up and ran there now.

“Raditz! What’s happening?” He asked, as he stumbled into the room.

His brother turned to him, expression pinched with stress. “Enemy ships. They must have been lying in wait for us close to Earth. Fuck!” He turned towards the controls again, fingers moving quick as lightening across the panels. “They’ve probably been stalking us for the last couple of hours, just out of our scanner’s reach… Their formation is too coordinated to be random.”

Goku moved closer, heart lodged in his throat. “Is it the PTO? Or Frieza’s forces?”

“No, it’s pirates.” Raditz growled, busy reading one of the screens. “Clearly a mercenary bunch if they’re attacking another pirate ship, which we look like. Unless they’ve been hunting us ever since Clintox 5 and they have an idea who we are…”

“No…” Goku breathed, not believing it. “Turles wouldn’t have sold us out.”

“Doesn’t mean a couple of low-lives didn’t slip past him. Or perhaps they’re from another fraction… Who knows.” Raditz said, frankly not caring. He was sending messages to desist to the pirates’ lead ship, but they weren’t responding. They weren’t sending anything back to them either, which wasn’t promising. It meant they had already decided to attack.

“Lower your ki.” Raditz suddenly said.

“What?”

“Lower it!” He ordered. “They’re not in scouter range yet, but as soon as they are they’ll take a reading to prepare for us. We have to make them underestimate us.”

The pirates might not be able to scan them through the thick plating of their ship, yet, but Goku and Raditz could both read ki and could feel all of them just fine. There were a lot. Too many. And several of them had energies higher than Goku’s right now. Raditz knew that his brother’s battle power was past the thirty thousand on a good day; that meaning when he wasn’t pregnant. At this point, so far in his pregnancy, Goku’s power was less than half, coming in around the thirteen thousand. Still strong to most saiyans, but not something that would help them now. Several of the pirates felt like they were at least twenty thousand or more. Raditz himself was only seven thousand…   

Goku did as told, but gripped his brother’s arm, eyebrows raised high and hands feeling suddenly cold. “You mean we’re going to fight them?! But I’m…” He couldn’t. Not with both Gohan and his baby to protect, he had realized that much back on Clintox 5. Maybe if it had been just a couple of opponents, but this was almost a veritable army.  

“We might have to.” Raditz said, still working to maneuver them past the blockade. “Or rather, I have to. I’ll try to get us past them and away, but I’m not sure if—“

Suddenly their ship shook, something hitting it and the impact vibrating through the ship and almost sending Goku flying. Raditz caught him just in time, then cursed when all the lights suddenly turned red. “Shit!”

“Raditz what’s happening?” Goku asked, unable to hide the fear in his voice. He had never been in a ship under attack before, and he was suddenly terribly aware of just how cold and oxygen-less the deep dark space right outside their hull was. If the 3 other ships started shooting, they would stand no chance.

“They fired a fucking jammer drone right through our outer plating; it’s already digging into us. They’re trying to hack our system. They’ll disable our weapons, take control of our airlocks, come in close and board us.” Raditz told him, listing off what would happen in a grim voice. He then turned to his brother, put a big palm to his shoulder, and looked at him seriously “Kakarot, you have to go get Gohan, then go to Tarble’s room. He left a scouter with a direct line to Vegeta in his bedside table, and a small tracker, just in case. Call Vegeta, tell him where we are— our coordinates.”

Guku’s breath hitched. This couldn’t be happening. “Raditz I’m so sorry this is all my fault, I—“

“Save it.” Raditz said. Hoping that it wasn’t too late, he tried to make the ship spit out a chip with the readings it had taken on their enemies. He was just in time. Hurriedly he handed the chip to his brother and then pushed him towards the doors. “Put that in the scouter. I’ll try to override their control and ready an escape pod, but you have to…” He gripped Goku’s arm, hating what he was about to say. “I might not make it in time. If they get us, tell them I’m your mate. If they ask, my name is Kondai, Gohan will be Beeto and you’re Cherris. Stick to that story no matter what. If they don’t know who you are, they can’t be allowed to find out. Now hurry! Go!”

Goku ran.            

Gohan was already awake and crying, startled by first the warning sirens, his mother leaving and then the shift in light. He reached out his little arms for Goku as soon as he spotted him, and Goku wasted no time snatching him up. Then he continued running to Tarble’s bunk, which was now being used to store luggage. He quickly placed his son on the bed and started digging through the bedtable drawers. “Come on where is it… There!”

With a triumphant cry he pulled out the scouter and turned it on before he had even gotten it on. He could only pray Vegeta was wearing his too. “Please, please, please…” Goku whispered as the line continued being nothing but static, the signal struggling to connect. “Vegeta I _need you_.”

The call went through.

“Who the hell—!“

“Vegeta!” Goku cried.

“Kakarot?” Vegeta sounded lost for only a second, then he focused. “Where the _hell_ are you?! I got a report yesterday that—“

“I’m so sorry. I was on Earth—I had too.” Goku babbled, heart pounding. The ship gave a sudden lurch and he made a startled sound, while Gohan’s loud crying in the background turned to screams.

“What the hell is happening over there?!” Vegeta demanded to know, able to hear his son’s wailing.

Goku squeezed his eyes shut, breath coming fast. “We’re being boarded by pirates.” His fingers shook as he pressed the chip Raditz had handed him into the scouter. “I-I’m sending you our coordinates and whatever readings we got on them. There’s a lot of them, and they’re too strong. Vegeta, I’m so sorry, but I don’t think we’ll make it.” His voice broke on the last words. Not for himself, but because Goku knew he was making Vegeta’s worst nightmares come true.

“Don’t you dare say that!” Vegeta yelled. “Fight them off. I’m still five days away, so you have to—“

“Vegeta I _can’t_.” Goku ground out, every word feeling like poison. “My battle power’s more than halved, and several of them are twenty thousand at least. If I fight, I might go into labor or accidently blow a hole in the hull.” If Goku had met them on his own, on a planet, he would certainly have tried. But right now they were one misfired shot away from becoming space debris. He couldn’t risk it.

For a moment all Goku could hear over the line was Vegeta’s heavy breathing as he struggled to get himself under control. Goku wished he could reach out and touch him.

Finally Vegeta spoke again. “Okay… Okay, new plan. Don’t fight them. Let them take you.”

“Let them—But?!”

“You _have_ to cooperate.” Vegeta told him, his voice tense but carefully controlled. Goku knew it well, it was the tone he got when he was making strategies. “You’re valuable, even if they don’t realize exactly who you are. So cooperate. Make it easier on yourself and Gohan, focus on staying alive. Every minute you gain I get closer to you, do you understand me? I’m coming Kakarot. I promise. You just have to stall.”

“I-I-“ Goku’s breath hitched and he let out a sob before he could cover his mouth with a hand. “I’m so sorry. Vegeta, I’m so so sorry.” The guilt was almost strangling him.  

Vegeta didn’t answer. What could he possibly say? Goku knew there was no forgiving this. Even so, he had to try and explain. “I did it to save our planet. They should be okay now. If—if you call Base One, I’m sure they’ll tell you.” He swallowed. “I should have told you instead of going myself. I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Vegeta asked, not understanding the babbling apologies his mate was trying to make. Going to save their planet—if there was a way to do that, then why not tell Vegeta? “Why didn’t you just trust me?!” He asked, finding the heart of the issue in one.

Goku laugh-sobbed, it was a broken sound with no humor. “I’m sorry.” He just said again. He could hear yelling in the hallway now, his brother’s voice and that of strangers. Raditz hadn’t been able to override their control it seemed, and now there was no more time to escape, or apologize. “T-they’re here.” Goku squeezed his eyes shut. He had never been this scared of enemies before. In the past he had always felt he stood at least a chance. That wasn’t the case now.

“Just hold on.” Vegeta told him. “I’m coming Kakarot, I swear it.”

“Please, stay with me until they get to the door…” Goku begged. He could already hear them breaking into the other rooms, yelling ‘clear’ when they didn’t find anyone.

“Don’t you dare end the call. Keep it running as long as possible. Anything they say, any hint can be useful, I’ll need it.” The universe was vast and there was plenty of scum in it. Tracking one particular group would be difficult. Even so Vegeta would do it, there was no other option. “Stay sharp Kakarot.”

Goku nodded, even though Vegeta couldn’t see. Scared or not, he couldn’t afford to panic. Once more Goku searched through the drawer, fingers shaking and clumsy as he finally found the button sized tracker and turned it on. He held it close to the scouter and allowed the devises to communicate. “D-did you get that?” Goku asked.

“I got it.” Vegeta confirmed. The tiny devise would hitch a ride with whatever bigger, stronger system it was near, and in that way project its signal while hiding it at the same time. “Keep it on you. _Don’t_ lose it.” It was Vegeta’s only way to find his mate and child quickly.

“I’ll do my best.” Goku promised, but they both knew he might not succeed. If the pirates decided to search him, it would be all over. That in mind, Goku made a quick decision. Instead of attaching it to himself, he turned to Gohan, grabbed him and pressed the sticky side of the tracker against his scalp, then covered it with his wild dark hair. “Be careful with that baby.” Goku told him, while smoothing his hair back.

“D-d-daddyyyyy.” Gohan cried, snot flowing as he clung to his mother.

“Shh. You have to be brave now.” Goku told him knowing that a crying child could get on anyone’s nerves and not wanting them to hurt Gohan. “They’re going to take us captive. Remember the game we played? It’s like that, but real. We have to be careful. Don’t speak unless it’s to me.”

“Hand him the scouter.” Vegeta suddenly demanded.

“What?”

“Just do it!”

Goku hesitated. He selfishly wanted to keep Vegeta close, even if it was just his voice or the sound of his breathing. But Gohan was still crying, unable to calm down. Reluctantly, Goku removed the scouter and pressed it to the side of Gohan’s head, then leaned close so he could listen in. At the same time the first bang sounded on their door.

“OPEN UP!” A male voice demanded.

Goku flinched, but closed his eyes and listened to Vegeta instead.

“Gohan, it’s papa.” Vegeta started with saying, which caused the little boy’s eyes to widen and his sobs to quiet down. “You have to stay strong for your mother until I get there. You’re a prince of the saiyan race, in line to rule. You _will_ do this.”

“Papa...” Gohan sniffled, small hands clasping the scouter. “Papa come here!” He begged, not understanding the vast distance that lay between them, used to the both of them being somewhere on Base One, with his father able to reach him in minutes.

“I’m coming, so until then, stay strong. That’s an order son.” Vegeta said.

The door was hit again, and this time the metal groaned. Goku glanced towards it, heart thundering in his chest, then took back the scouter. “They’re coming in. Vegeta, you have to know I—“

Vegeta broke him off. “Save your apologies for later Kakarot! _Focus_. Put the scouter under the bunk, but don’t turn it off.”

That hadn’t been what Goku was about to say, but a third slam to the door meant there was no more time. “O-okay… Just hurry.” Goku begged. With shaking hands he took the scouter off and placed it where Vegeta had told him to, far enough back to not get noticed. Then he picked up Gohan, held him close and turned to face the door.

They hadn’t told each other goodbye, because this would _not_ be goodbye, not if it stood to them.

The door was slammed in, and immediately guns poked through, their focus lights settling on Goku like red dots.

“Don’t shoot, I’m pregnant!” Goku called out, hoping that it would stay their hand if anyone felt trigger happy.

Two pirates entered the small room. The biggest one, a blue skinned humanoid alien with a grizzled mean face, looked Goku and Gohan over and then grinned. “Well look at what we got boys. A saiyan beta and a cub!” He licked his lips. “It seems the tipoff wasn’t a waste of time after all. You two are gonna earn me a pretty penny.”

Goku pulled his lips back in a snarl before he could help it.

“Ah ah ah, I don’t think so sweetheart.” The blue skinned man, who Goku realized was a Dengalian, said. Almost lazily, he aimed his gun at Gohan, the red dot focused on his forehead. “I can spare a cub, since you’re already carrying another. So play nice.”

Goku pulled his son closer, doing nothing to conceal the flash of fear that ran across his face. Guns might not work on Goku when he was at full power, but blasters of this quality could definitely hurt Gohan. Besides that, appearing afraid instead of aggressive would probably be better; if they didn’t see him as a threat, they wouldn’t be as vary of him. This in mind, Goku made sure to let his voice sound shaky with fear when he spoke. It came too easily. “W-what are you planning to do with us? Where are you taking us? We’re in alliance with Dengalia, so why are you…?”

He needed them to talk. To give the information to Vegeta who was still listening. Hence Goku mentioning that he recognized one man as a dengalian.

The dengalian man, probably the leader, smiled sickly sweet at him, but his eyes were like flint. “Don’t concern your pretty head with that doll. You just behave, and you might get out of being _disciplined_.” He leered the last word, and the men behind him laughed. Goku paled involuntarily when he realized what they were insinuating.

“W-what did you do to my—My mate?” Goku asked, remembering his brother’s cover story for them. He could sense Raditz’ ki and knew he was alive, but he couldn’t hear his brother’s voice anymore.

“He’s taking a nap.” The leader said. “Now up you get, and bring your things. We’ll be your hosts for a while.”

When Goku hesitated, the leader aimed at Gohan again. “Unless you want to put up a fight? I’d advise against it sweetheart. You’re a measly five thousand and my men’s battle powers are all ten thousand at least.” He grinned.

Goku knew he would be able of taking a couple of people at that power level, but there were already ten who had boarded their ship, and many more in reserve. If he tried, he would get killed.

Reluctantly, Goku started collecting his and Gohan’s things, all the while he thought. Clearly the pirates didn’t know who he really was, yet, since they didn’t doubt his stated relation to Raditz. It was lucky that he and his brother didn’t look alike. On the other hand, despite him keeping his power suppressed, they weren’t careless around him either, not even willing to give him a taunting monologue about what they would do to him.

While he packed, Gohan clung to him, his little body shaking. Goku curled his tail around him in silent comfort, mentally praising Gohan for behaving. The leader was probably bluffing about shooting Gohan, but it would be dumb to take chances or provoke him. Even so, Goku remembered Vegeta’s order to buy time, and tried to drag it out for as long as possible.

In a moment of weakness and distraction, his hand almost trailed to under the bed, where the scouter was hidden. 

Suddenly Goku was grabbed by the hair and yanked back, which caused him to let out a startled pained scream.

It was done by one of the other men, a yellow skinned grasin, and unlike the leader his face was completely devoid of humor. “Don’t try to pull any shit you little bitch.” He said and then kicked out the scouter from its hiding place. “You’re not calling anyone. So give the fuck up and don’t make trouble.” He tightened his grip, pulling hair from Goku’s scalp and bringing tears to his eyes, but then his voice suddenly turned silky. “Or do. If you misbehave enough, I’ll get a turn at using your holes. So let me have some fun, yea?”

“That’s enough Krotak.” The leader said. “He’ll be worth more undamaged.”

“Aww, come on boss. It’s not like he’s a virgin!” Krotak complained. “And he can’t get any more pregnant than he already is.”

The leader chuckled. “True, but you know the rules. If he behaves, he gets left alone.” Then his eyes turned to Goku’s. “But make trouble and well… My men have been horribly cooped up lately. You’ll be in high demand.”

Goku gritted his teeth and made sure not to give his aggression away. These bastards… If he had been at full power, they wouldn’t have been able to touch him. He knew what they were doing; they were trying to freak him out to the point where they broke his will to fight, so that he would be a more docile prisoner. Though he had never used it, or experienced mental or physical torture himself, Goku _had_ been taught about it. Vegeta had insisted he learn, so that if something ever happened to him, he would have a better chance at staying calm. Still, mind games or not, these guys probably weren’t bluffing.

“Let’s go.” The leader said, once he had watched Goku’s face for a moment and taken in the mix of fear and hate there.

Krotak dragged Goku up by his hair and pulled him along, making sure to step hard on the scouter so it broke, before exiting the door.

Goku felt a pang as he heard the glass splinter, shattering his last line to Vegeta. He closed his eyes, wishing he had just ended the call. Vegeta hadn’t learned anything of import by listening in, instead all he had heard was a bunch of pirates threatening to rape Goku and kill his child. Just thinking about Vegeta’s expression or emotional state right now made Goku feel sick to his stomach.

“Move your feet bitch.”

Goku moved. He had to get through this. He had to be smart and make it safely back to Vegeta, or he didn’t know what would happen. He couldn’t bear to consider it.

 

xXx

 

Dragged off their ship, which was now being towed behind the pirate fleet, and chained to the walls in a cold holding cell. That was the situation for Goku right now. It could have been worse though, they could have taken Gohan from him. Instead the little boy as curled up on Goku’s lap, whimpering in his sleep. Goku stroked his hair with a frown. It had already been a couple of hours since they were thrown in here, and he wasn’t sure what was going to happen next.

Raditz was in the cell across from him, easy to see since instead of bars the cells had reinforced glass. The alpha was using the small slack in his chain to pace, arms crossed and expression severe.

“You should sit down.” Goku said. “You’re just wasting energy like that.”

“At this point it doesn’t matter.” Raditz said, voice dark. “I bet they’re already making deals with buyers. They’re going to separate us. I’ll probably be sold to a gladiator pit somewhere, while you…” He trailed off, unwilling to say out loud what he suspected would happen to his brother.

Unfortunately, Goku wasn’t unaware. “Some sort of sex trade, I know. Though I don’t understand why saiyan betas are so popular for that.”

Raditz reluctantly answered. “It’s the same with most alien species who goes into heats. With the right drugs in your systems, you’ll be… It’ll make you seem willing, not to mention insatiable. Saiyans are more popular because our physique resembles many other races’.” Humanoid aliens usually preferred other humanoids.

“I see.” Goku said. Being at war with Frieza and the PTO meant he was aware of the nastier sides of it all, but taking wounded soldiers off the battlefield and trying to sell them as sex-slaves were the actions of the lowest scum. Luckily most saiyans either fought to the death or escaped their captors before they ever needed help, but other species probably weren’t as lucky. “How long do you think we have?” Goku asked.

“It’s hard to say.” Raditz admitted. “It depends on where our buyers are I suppose. They’ll need to get there, let them see the wares, meaning us, and renegotiate the price. Could take days…” Which was what they hoped for. The longer it took, the bigger the chance of Vegeta or other allies catching up to them. Raditz was glad that they had ended up leaving Tarble behind. Even with the other man, they wouldn’t have stood a chance. At least this was his friend was out of danger.

“How’re you feeling?” Raditz asked, after they had sat around in silence again for a while.

“A couple of cramps, but otherwise okay. I’m staying as calm as I can.” Goku assured. Going into labor now would be disastrous. Not only was it still too early, but he was more likely to be treated better as long as he was pregnant. It wasn’t like giving birth would suddenly give him his powers back either, instead he’d just be exhausted from birth on top of weakened and then forced to protect two kids at the same time. Goku sighed and put a hand on his belly where his youngest son was kicking. “Be patient. Stay in there a bit longer, okay?”

The baby kicked back, almost as if he understood. Goku really hoped that was the case.

 

xXx

 

The lights on the ship had dampened, signifying nighttime, when the door to the holding area was suddenly slammed open and a group of five pirates stalked in. They set a fast course for Goku’s cell.

“Mondu, take the brat. Levas and Bron, grab the bitch. We’ll take the last monkey.” One of them ordered the others, before walking to Raditz cell together with another man.

Goku was grabbed by the arm and dragged to his feet, but kept a defiant hold on Gohan, refusing to let anyone take his cub. Since he wasn’t otherwise struggling though, the pirates let him be.

They were all marched through the ship and on to the bridge, where the leader and that bastard Krotak were both waiting. The leader wasn’t smiling anymore. “Scan them.” He ordered impatiently.

Goku got a bad feeling, but had no time to ruminate on it before he was pushed to his knees and held down while some sort of device was stuck in front of his face. It flashed, which almost blinded him, then whirred and chirped almost like a scouter. Goku blinked until bright spots stopped dancing in front of his eyes. Once he could see again, he watched as one of the pirates connected the scanner to their computer and a face recognition program started running on one of the main screens.

Goku paled when he realized what they were doing, and cast a wide eyed fearful look towards his brother. Raditz watched back helplessly.

Pictures of faces and wanted posters flashed across the screen, until the system pinged and a ‘Match Found’ message appeared.

“We got three hits boss.” The pirate manning the computer said. “Come look.”

The leader walked over and looked over his subordinate’s shoulder. “Hn, it’s not that one. He has a scar on his cheek, ours doesn’t.” The leader motioned for the man to show him the next match. His eyebrows rose when he saw it. “Well I’ll be damned. I knew I’d seen that mug before. It’s that saiyan bastard with the biomechanical arm.”

“The one who ran us off Clintox?”

“Same one. Well, they look alike at least. Ha, if they’re related, then I’m hitting two birds with one stone. It’ll be a good revenge.” The leader said.

Goku closed his eyes and slumped while pulling his son closer. He knew what was coming next.

The pirate in charge of the computer turned to the next match, and both he and the leader froze. The dengalian’s mouth dropped open, his expression stunned, as if he didn’t dare believe his luck. After half a minute he slowly tore his eyes away from the screen and walked over to Goku. He stopped in front of him, then grabbed his chin and forced Goku to look up into his grinning face.

“The gods are on my side it seems.” He practically purred, eyes hungry. “Welcome on board, _Prince Kakarot._ ”

 

xXx

 

Goku was trying to keep breathing evenly, to not let his traitorously galloping heart or cold sweat give away his horror, but his eyes were reflecting the dread he suddenly felt anyway.

The leader was still caressing his chin. “Well, doll. Good news is that you’re not becoming a sex toy after all.” His grin widened. “Bad news is, your new fate is way worse.”

He patted Goku’s cheek with a mocking smile, then stood back and looked down at Gohan. “So I guess this one is Vegeta junior?”

Gohan shrunk back against Goku’s chest, small hands clenched in his mother’s shirt, wide eyes watching the pirate fearfully.

The leader snorted. “How cute. Frieza might turn him into a stuffed toy once he’s done with you.”

These words finally made Goku snap. “Don’t!” He yelled. “Don’t hand us over to Frieza. The guy is a monster, he attacked Dengalia too! Why would you help him?!” Goku asked, not understanding, but then focused and took a deep breath. “Call Vegeta instead. He’ll pay you the same price to get us back, or more.”

The leader watched Goku expressionlessly for a long moment, before shaking his head and slowly speaking. “Let me make one thing clear. I don’t give a _shit_ about Dengalia. I was unwanted on my planet long before Frieza even thought about going there, so whatever happens to it is none of my business.” He said, then walked over and sat down in his chair. “As for your war with Frieza, I sincerely doubt your pitiful resistance will ever manage to be more than a nuisance. Frieza is the biggest fish in these waters, and I’m not gonna risk my skin by cheating him out of something he wants.”

Goku clenched his fists and glared. He wanted to yell and scream, or raise his power and fight, but he knew none of those things would be smart. Still, in this situation, it hardly mattered anymore. His shoulders slumped again. Goku was ready to give up everything, if just— “Let my children go.” He begged. “Just—just don’t tell Frieza that you found them. _Please_ , they’re just cubs!”

“No can do doll,” The leader said. “Kids or not, they’re valuable, and I prefer gold over a spot in heaven. It’s too late for that anyway. At this point sacrificing a couple of brats is hardly gonna make a difference.” He said carelessly, as if he was discussing the weather.

Goku froze up, his lungs filling with ice as he clutched Gohan to his chest. It didn’t go unnoticed.

“YOU SICK FUCK!” Raditz yelled, eyes wild, while straining against the hold his guards had on him. “When Vegeta gets his hands on you, he’s going to flay you all alive!!!”

This brought the leader some pause, a nervous twitch flashing across his grizzled face, but he shook it off. “Lord Frieza will grant me protection for my services.”

Raditz stopped fighting, but only because it wasn’t resulting in anything. Instead he laughed. “Ha! If you really believe that, then you’re even dumber than you are cowardly!”

The leader scowled, but he turned his back on Raditz instead of answering. “Take them back to their cells, and get ready to contact lord Frieza.”

The saiyans were dragged out, Raditz spitting and cursing, Goku silent and pale. Gohan clung to his mother, not understanding everything, but knowing enough to recognize Frieza’s name as the demon his parents were fighting. For Gohan, Frieza was like the bogey man, and the idea of having to meet him made the little boy start to cry. His papa had said to be strong, but how could Gohan be strong when his mother smelled of fear and anger all the time, and they were going to be handed to a demon?

“Papa!” Gohan cried into his daddy’s shoulder. “PAPAAAA!”

His cries echoed through the ship.

 

xXx

 

Vegeta woke with a start, sure that his son was crying for him and not understanding why Kakarot wasn’t dealing with it. His mate usually heard their child quicker than he did and responded faster. It took him a moment to realize the reality of the situation.

Gohan and Kakarot weren’t here. They were captured by pirates. Pirates who wanted to put their filthy, greasy hands all over his mate even though Kakaort was pregnant and—

“Prince Vegeta? Please, calm down, you’re breaking the chair.”

Vegeta blinked, breathed out and slowly released the grip he had around the armrests. His fingers had left dents in the metal. “How far are we? How long was I out?” Vegeta demanded to know. He hadn’t decided to nap, but at this point his body wasn’t giving him a choice and was logging down whether Vegeta wanted it to or not. He kept loosing time, probably from fainting. Even he couldn’t go without sleep for over a week.

The officer who had woken him bowed briefly before reporting. “Only half an hour my lord. We are still following the signal from Prince Kakarot’s tracker, but five minutes ago something changed. It would appear the pirates have changed direction and is now moving _towards_ us.”

Vegeta rubbed his temples in a futile attempt to starve off the migraine hammering away inside his skull. “Why would they do that?” He mumbled, mostly to himself.

“We don’t know sir. They already changed course once, heading towards the Corinthien cluster where we believe they were aiming for Drunclox and the slave markets there. But now they’re heading back through the Orion spiral towards the center of the Milky Way…”

Shaking his head, Vegeta glared at the monitors showing their route and the pirates’. Their prey had done a 180 degree turn. “That doesn’t make sense. The only thing lying that way is an active warzone. Our troops are stationed all over that area to fight—“ Vegeta broke himself off, the air escaping his lungs and heart stuttering. His eyes widened. “ _No_.”

“P-prince Vegeta?”

Vegeta stood up and stumbled over to the control panel, the monitors swimming in front of his eyes. His ears were ringing and everything seemed distant and distorted, like if he was inside a glass bell. Once more he looked at the route the pirates were taking, then followed the most direct line, right to—“ ** _Frieza_**.”

Vegeta’s knees buckled and he fell down, unable to draw air into his lungs. The pirates would reach their destination before Vegeta could.

Gohan. Kakarot. Their unborn child... The image of Vegeta’s mate and children in the hands of Frieza assaulted his brain.

No. No no no no NO! He couldn’t let that happen!

Vegeta pulled at his hair. Think. _Think._ He had to delay them— _anything_ that could do so would work. His head kept spinning though and Vegeta forced himself to stop hyperventilating take a deep slow breath. He had to calm down and think of this like a game board. Mentally he went over the area that lay between the pirates and Frieza. What pieces did he have there? What could he use?

Once more, despite his fatigue, Vegeta struggled to his feet. He had an idea, and his pride hurt just thinking about it, but if he let this happen, then his pride wasn’t worth shit. “Put me through to B team commander Turles.”

“…Sir?” The officer asked, not following Vegeta’s train of thought.

“Just do it!” Vegeta yelled.

The communication officers on bridge jumped to it. Within minutes they had secured a line, and were hailing the commander.

Vegeta watched the screen with blank eyes, until Turles appeared. The other alpha looked at first confused, then startled once he focused on Vegeta. Then, strangely enough, his expression smoothed out. It might be due to his sleep deprived hyper vigilance, but Vegeta caught the flicker in his expression. Turles wasn’t surprised that he had called. “You _knew!_ ” Vegeta roared.

To his credit, Turles didn’t try to play stupid. “I know Kakarot is up to something. He refused to tell me what though, and I’m afraid my attempts at tracking him were foiled. I only have his general direction.” He threw the last part out as an offering, hoping it would calm Vegeta down if he was searching for his mate.

“I don’t need his damn direction. I know where he is.” Vegeta growled. “He’s in the clutches of fucking pirates and headed towards Frieza!”

Turles paled and his eyes grew wide. He stared into the middle distance for a moment as the truth sunk in, then shook his head. “Pirates? No one from  Clintox would mess with saiyans. That only leaves a few groups in this quadrant.” But it did mean someone had tattled. Someone had slipped through Turles’ grasp.

“I don’t _care_ who they are.” Vegeta spat. “As I said I know where they are, and where they are headed. I just can’t get there in time.” He stared angrily at Turles, his teeth grinding from how hard he was clenching his jaw. Not only had that bastard been privy to Kakarot’s plans, but Kakarot had trusted him over Vegeta. Just what the hell had gone so wrong that Kakarot had felt the need for that?

With a disgusted growl, Vegeta briefly closed his eyes and took another deep breath. Focus.

He looked back at Turles who was watching him with a carefully blank face. The commander was wise enough not to push Vegeta right now. “ _You_ can get there though.” Vegeta ground out, the words tasting like poison on his tongue. But it was true, Clintox 5 was almost right in their path. “And you have better make it count. Right now you’re looking at charges of treason, and you know what the punishment is for that.”

Turles grimaced. He knew indeed, and though he would love to argue why his head should get to stay attached, seeing as he had technically been following orders from his prince consort, he knew Vegeta wouldn’t respond to reason right now. The other alpha looked deranged; the crazy gleam in Vegeta’s eyes was the same one that he had had just after returning from Frieza as a teen. “I understand. Send me the information and I’ll go right away.”

Vegeta just sneered at him and terminated the call, then glared at a communications officer. “Send him the info.”    

As soon as the officer jumped to it, Vegeta turned away and walked over to his chair. He sat down heavily, leaned over and rested his elbows on his thigs. After a moment he hid his face in his hands too. Vegeta didn’t want anyone to see his expression right now. “Kakarot… Why?”

 

xXx

 

Raditz watched his brother from the other cell, shoulders and back tense, while his breath left condensation marks on the enforced glass by proximity. Goku had been sitting the exact same way, pale and drawn, for over an hour since they got back from the bridge.  “Kakarot, say something. Snap _out_ of it.” Raditz begged, unable to handle seeing him like this.

Goku heard the plea, but just curled up further around his still whimpering son. “And do _what_?” He croaked, throat dry. They hadn’t been given anything to eat or drink so far. “This is all my fault in the first place. And now, if I try to fight, I risk getting you and my cubs killed.” If he had been alone, Goku would probably already have been on his way out of here, but the constant threat to his children… It froze him up, icy fear running through his veins instead of blood. What happened on the bridge had been the last straw.  

Raditz banged his fists against the glass. “Oh to hell with that! They’re handing us over to Frieza anyway, so we might as well try!”

Finally, Goku turned to glare at him. “Try _what_?!” He asked, frustrated. They were outnumbered, out classed and trying to protect a child with no chance of defending himself. Gohan and the baby were both giant weak spots, and ones the pirates didn’t mind aiming for. Not to mention that if they tried something and failed, Goku knew exactly what the consequences would be.

“…” Raditz opened and closed his mouth, unable to come up with anything. He realized that it wasn’t that Goku had just sat down and accepted their situation, but that right now he couldn’t see a way out of it either. That coupled with Goku’s instincts, all of which were probably in overdrive from the constant threats and stress, and it was a miracle the younger saiyan hadn’t broken down yet.

“Sorry.” Raditz mumbled, just loud enough for his brother to hear. He rested his forehead against the glass pane, his shoulders slumping, and sighed. “If we could just get you and Gohan out somehow...”

“I’m not going anywhere without you.” Goku said with a frown.

Raditz whipped his head up to glare at him. “Shut up. If you get a chance, you take it. Don’t worry about me and just go. You owe that to your kids and Vegeta.”

Raditz might not be as strong as Goku, or as gifted, but he’d rather bite the dust than be the kind of older brother who let his pregnant younger sibling and nephew get killed on his behalf. If he had only been stronger… But it was his own fault he wasn’t. Back on Base One, Goku had offered to train with him numerous times, but Raditz had always turned him down. Truth be told, Raditz kind of liked his job as a communications officer, and though he had worked hard to better himself enough so that he was worthy of his placement on Base One, he had no desire to aim for Goku’s level or join the frontlines. Raditz liked fighting, but he liked not dying more. This was different though. If Raditz made it out of this, and his family didn’t… It would be pointless. He would never forgive himself.

Raditz words had brought Goku up short, and now he was glaring at the floor. He knew that getting himself and his children out had to be first priority, but he was scared. Raditz wasn’t as ‘important’ as Goku was, at least looking at it from the outside. He wasn’t royalty, hell, Goku doubted the pirates even realized they were related. They probably mistook him for a guard. If Goku got away, what would they do to his brother in return?

“Hey, Kakarot— I said hey! Look at me you little shit.”

A bit startled by his brother’s tone, Goku turned to do so.

Raditz was watching him back steadily. “I know what you’re thinking, but you can’t let that stop you. Whatever they do to me… I’ll be fine, okay? If I do die, then in another year, you’ll be able to fix that, right?”

Goku swallowed. “I’m afraid of what they’ll do to you before that.”

Raditz closed his eyes and shook his head. “Don’t think about it. Just do what you have to. That’s an order.”

“You can’t give me orders!” Goku protested.

Despite the situation, Raditz grinned. “Sure I can, I’m the oldest.”

“Well I’m the strongest!” Goku countered.

It was their usual argument, and almost brought a smile to Goku’s lips. With a small huff, he turned away from his grinning brother. His humor quickly fled though. He knew what Raditz said made sense, but _damnit_. “…Fine, you win. I promise.”

“Thank you.” Raditz said, voice steady and surprisingly serious. “Now try to get some sleep, okay? It’s gonna be a while before we get where we’re going, so try to save your energy.”

“You too.” Goku whispered, and then scooted on his bum until he could lay down. He pulled Gohan closer. At this point the toddler had almost cried himself to sleep already, and was now just blinking up at his daddy with swollen and sore eyes. “Oh buddy…” Goku sighed, and caressed his son’s chubby cheek.

He wanted to promise Gohan that they would be okay, that they would definitely find a way out, or that Vegeta would reach them in time, but he didn’t know if any of those things would be true. Even if they were saved, Gohan might see or experience a lot of other scary things before then. So instead, Goku pulled him close so the little boy had his face buried against his neck, and Goku could nuzzle his hair with his nose. “I love you son, so much. Never forget that.”

Gohan sniffled and nodded. His daddy told him that sometimes, not often, but enough that Gohan knew it was true. “I love you too daddy.” He said, because it was the truth. If his daddy liked Gohan as much as Gohan liked him, then it had to be. “But I wanna go home.”

“I know buddy, I know.” Goku said, and kissed the top of his head. Goku wanted to go home too.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea, sorry Goku, but about that...


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s right brother, you just focus on getting away.” - Raditz.

They were woken up by the sound of alarms. For a moment Goku was transported back to the day before, when he had woken the exact same way to pirates attacking them. This time something else had to be going on. “What’s happening?” Goku asked as he slowly sat up, crazy sore after lying on the cold floor all night. His entire body felt like a bruise.

Raditz was already standing, and watching the door to the holding area with a tense expression. It was still closed though. “I don’t know, but the ship shook a few minutes ago, like something hit it. Then the alarms started.”

Goku’s heart started pounding. “Is it Vegeta?”

Slowly, Raditz shook his head. “Not if he said he was five days away… We’re probably flying in his direction now, because that’s also where Frieza is, but that should still leave two and a half day… One and a half now I guess.”

 _‘But then who…?_ ’ Goku wondered. Was this another example of pirates attacking other pirates? Whatever the case, it seemed they would soon get their answer, because the door to the holding area was slammed open and a bunch of their captors ran in. “Grab the beta, hurry, hurry go!”

Before he was able to protest, the pirates had unlocked his cell and his chain and were dragging him outside. “Wait, Gohan!” He called, not wanting to get separated.

“Leave the brat!” One of the pirates ordered with a sneer.

“Daddy!” Gohan screamed, banging his little fists against the cell door as it swung closed right in front of his face. “Daddy—DADDY!”

“Let me go!” Goku demanded as he tried to twist free, instincts roaring at being separated from his crying cub. The surge of adrenaline clouded his head, and he was moments away from letting go— moments from raising powers and _fighting back._

“Kakarot, keep it together!” Raditz called to him, voice stressed.

His brother’s voice snapped Goku out of it, and he stopped raising his power. He still twisted desperately in the pirates’ hold though, like he really was giving it his all.  

“Stop struggling or you’ll get it.” One of them threatened, hand already raised.

“Gohan!” Goku called again, but his son was already out of sight. The doors to the holding area closed with a clang.

For the second day in a row, Goku was dragged to the bridge, spitting and struggling all the way, while ignoring the hits it earned him. Once there, he glared at the leader, who was looking more stressed than yesterday. Even so, he smiled meanly when he spotted Goku getting dragged inside and forced to his knees once more.

“Ah, if it isn’t our guest of honor.” The dengalian said. “Perhaps you could enlighten me as to why _this_ is happening.” He asked, gesturing to a screen showing a star-map of the surrounding area and the six enemy ships the pirates were currently facing.

Goku stared at it, not getting what he was seeing. Perhaps his confusion was plain on his face, because the leader sneered and turned away from him. He leaned over and whispered something in one of his subordinate’s ear, after which the man scuttled away and left the bridge. Then the leader focused on the screens again. “Well, they’ve already fired warning shots, but if they’re not attacking yet, it’s because we have something they want. I can guess what.” He said, with a glance at Goku, then turned his face forwards again. “Let their next call go through.”

“Yes boss.”

Goku kept silent and alert. He didn’t know what was happening yet, but if he got a chance to get away, he would take it. He doubted it would happen right now though. There were too many people on the bridge, and the leader’s battle power was the highest of all, easily past 25 thousand, though Goku wasn’t as good as gauging power levels without a scouter as his brother.

A call came through, and this time it got accepted. Soon after, a very familiar face appeared on the screen. It was Turles, and for once he was wearing proper Coalition battle armor, something actually representing his rank.

Goku stared, mouth open, but didn’t say anything.

Meanwhile, Turles was quick to spot him too. He looked Goku over for a moment, but didn’t betray any emotions, then he turned his attention to the leader with a glare. “Gralni Meka… I thought when I chased you off of Clintox, I made it clear that you’d better stay away from me and mine, or you wouldn’t survive our next encounter.”

The leader, now named by Turles, crossed his arms and smirked back, but Goku could smell the nervous sweat on the man. “Well if it isn’t the disgraced monkey. I don’t know why you’re looking so upset. I’m just making my way in the universe, earning some money as you do. I fail to see how the royal consort could have anything to do with a pirate such as yourself. I mean, we’re in the same business, and _I_ certainly never hung out with royalty before finding this little pearl.”

“Don’t compare me with you Gralni. I’m not a slave trader.” Turles growled.

Gralni smirked and walked over to Goku, then reached for his hair, as if to caress him. Goku, fed up at this point, snapped his teeth at him, almost catching his wrist in his mouth. Gralni pulled back with a startled shout, the veins in his wrist dangerously close to getting severed by sharp saiyan canines. He stared at Goku for a moment, then his face twisted into something dark and he slapped Goku across the face.

It was a hard smack, enough for Goku’s nose to be hit too and start bleeding. For a moment Goku saw stars, the pain of a nose injury always felt like someone was stabbing a knife through your skull and twisting. Goku tasted blood on his upper lip and licked it off, then squinted through watery eyes back at the pirate leader. “Don’t touch me.” He hissed, fed up with playing nice. This man was trying to sell him to Frieza, to sell Goku’s _children_. Clearly, cooperating with him would get Goku nowhere.

No, no that wasn’t right. Goku forced himself to take a deep breath, Vegeta’s words resounding in his head. Goku couldn’t lose it yet. He had to stay smart.

It might be too late already though.  

Gralni sneered at him. “Watch your mouth doll. I’ll touch you if I want to, and remember what I said about misbehaving? You must be feeling pretty lonely away from your mate if you’re this desperate to get fucked.”

“If you lay as much as another finger on him Gralni…” Turles growled from the screen, eyes flashing with bloodlust, “Then your death is going to be even longer and more painful than it already is.”

Gralni snorted and turned his attention back on Turles. “So you’re going to kill me no matter what?” he asked. “Seems counterproductive to making a deal. That _is_ what your little blockade is about, isn’t it?”

Turles smiled back, but his eyes stayed hard. “I’m under direct orders from prince Vegeta to retrieve prince Kakarot and the others and kill all involved in the incident. So no, there will be no deal.” He informed the other pirate. “But, if you hand them over now without a fuss, I’ll give you a head start before I start hunting you.”

Gralni seemed unimpressed. “I didn’t know you were a Coalition dog Turles, but in the end I guess all you monkeys are pack animals.” He turned his back on the screen. “No deal.” Then he glanced at Goku. “I’m curious though, how you managed to find us so fast… Boys, hold him down.” He ordered the last part, and walked back over to Goku, who was forced down to the floor on his back and held there by his limbs.

Goku snarled and twisted, but without raising his power he wouldn’t be able to get free, and several people on the bridge were wearing scouters. He couldn’t afford to show his trump card yet. It didn’t stop him from making it difficult for them though. Even so, Gralni wasn’t faced when he bent over Goku, grabbed his tunic and ripped it all the way down the front, exposing Goku’s belly and chest.

Shocked by the action and being suddenly half naked, Goku froze. But Gralni continued by running coarse hands all over his skin, squeezing Goku’s chest, which was already swollen in preparation for nursing his baby, and going down his bump, into his armpits and around his back to his tail. It was clearly to search him, but Gralni still made sure to make it as intimate and uncomfortable as possible. Goku just gritted his teeth and bore it. He knew the man would find nothing.

Suddenly a big boom sounded again and a shockwave vibrated through the ship. Startled, Gralni let go of Goku and got up as soon as the aftershock died down. “What the hell was that?! Why are you shooting at us you insane bastard?! We have your prince!”

“I wasn’t shooting at you.” Turles replied, smiling like a fox. “But I hope you weren’t terribly fond of your second ship or the men on it, because I’m afraid I just blew it up.” He said. Then his eyes turned to steel. “Touch Kakarot again and your third ship goes too.”

“Boss…”

“Captain…”

A couple of the lower ranking pirates pleaded, maybe from fear, or maybe because they had friends on the third ship. Meanwhile Gralni was glaring at Turles with gritted teeth and shaking fists, his eyes blood-shot. “You _bastard_.” He pointed at Turles. “You touch any of my other ships and I’ll fuck this little bitch myself and slit the kid’s throat. End call!” He yelled the last part, and the screen turned black, Turles’ visage disappearing before he could protest.

“What now boss?” Krotak asked, his yellow skin looking paler than before.

Gralni growled and ran a hand through his greasy hair, his eyes wild. “Is the ship I asked for ready?”

Someone confirmed.

“Good.” Gralni said when he got the affirmative. “Then load the prisoners, we’re leaving. Turles can block us all day if he wants too, but I’ll be taking his price and leaving by the backway.”

Krotak looked worried. “What about the tracker?”

“Since he didn’t freak out when I stripped him, it’s probably hidden on their ship. We shouldn’t have towed it. It should be fine as soon as we leave.” Gralni reasoned. “Now get moving.”

Goku was dragged up off the floor, silently relived that he hadn’t worn the tracker after all. Most likely, no one would suspect that he had hidden it on his son. Normally toddlers would grab anything they came into contact with and examine it, maybe eat it, but saiyan cubs listened to their parents and mostly did as told in crisis situations. It was a simple survival mechanism, but oh so effective.

Gralni and a subordinate quickly ran ahead, eager to get to the smaller prepared ship and slip away from Turles, but Goku made sure to drag his feet. It wasn’t that difficult, he just exaggerated his waddle and groaned like he was in pain whenever his two guards tried to hurry or push him. That way, it didn’t take long before Goku was alone with them in one of the hallways, which was exactly what he had aimed for.  

Goku stopped.

“Hey, keep moving bitch.” One of the guards demanded and pulled on his arm. Two seconds later the man’s skull was embedded in the metal plating of the wall and oozing blood.

The other pirate let out a yell and fumbled with his blaster, but long before he had a chance to aim, Goku got him with a roundhouse kick that broke his neck.

Slightly winded, Goku leaned on the wall for a moment to catch his breath, one hand on his belly where his baby was kicking up a storm. “I know baby, I know.” Goku said between panting. “I’m getting us out of here now.”

There was no time for remorse, he had to save his family. As soon as he felt steady, Goku left the two corpses behind and ran towards the holding area.  

 

xXx

 

Raditz had been busy trying to console his wailing nephew, despite the cells separating them. He startled when the door to the holding area got slammed open and his brother stumbled inside.

“Kakarot!” Raditz exclaimed as he got up. “What are you doing here? Why are you half naked?”

“Never mind that.” Goku said as he hurried to his son’s cell and looked over the locking mechanism. It only took him a few moments to grow impatient, and instead of looking for a key, Goku melted it with a concentrated blast of ki. As he had expected, the cells had no resistance to energy shots coming from the outside, and it gave easily. With the lock gone, the cell door creaked open and moments later Gohan was back in his mother’s arms.

“D-d-daaaaddyyy!” He wailed, while clinging to Goku.

Goku didn’t have time to console him though, and hurried to Raditz’ cell. “Stand back.” He ordered his brother and then melted the second lock as soon as Raditz was clear.

“Kakarot, you need to _leave_.” Raditz urged him, even as Goku quickly made it into his cell.

“What are you talking about? I’m not leaving without you.” Goku said as he kneeled next to his brother’s feet and grabbed the heavy chain connecting him to the wall. Goku tried pulling it apart, but it didn’t work. Frustrated, he tried heating it up with ki instead, but it still didn’t work. His hands started sweating, and with confusion Goku looked up at Raditz. “Why isn’t it working?!”

Raditz gazed down at him with a calm look. “It’s ki-resistant metal, too strong to pull apart with brute force. I already tried.”

A cold lump lodged in Goku’s throat when he realized that it wasn’t calm he was seeing in Raditz’ expression. It was resignation. “ _No._ ” He said, shaking his head.

“You have to go.” Raditz said again, while he grabbed Goku’s arm and pulled him up. “You promised me.”

“No Raditz, you don’t understand.“ Goku protested as his older brother tried pushing him out of the cell. “They readied a smaller ship, we can use it to leave! Turles is right outside with a battle fleet. If we work together we can take down the leader and—“

“You have to do it yourself.” Raditz told him as he finished pushing Goku outside. “I’m stuck here, I can’t leave. _You_ can.”

Goku just stared back at him, frozen in his steps and expression breaking.

“ _Go_ Kakarot!” Raditz yelled when his little brother remained unmoving.

With a hitching breath, Goku took a stumbling step back without breaking eye contact with Raditz. “I… I’m coming back for you.” He promised.

“Worry about that later, just get out!” Raditz yelled and motioned wildly for the door.

It still took Goku a terribly long moment to break eye contact, to finally look away, and then to turn his back on his older brother. With tears in his eyes, Goku kept a firm hold on his son as he stumbled back out of the holding area and then started running for the hanger of the ship.

Raditz smiled in relief as soon as his little brother disappeared from sight. “That’s right brother, you just focus on getting away.” He said, as he slumped back against the wall.

He could only pray that Goku made it.

 

xXx

 

The hanger of the pirate ship was far from as big as the one on Base One, and it didn’t take Goku long to spot the smaller ship meant for escape. Hiding behind another unprepped ship, Goku eyed it carefully. Where was Gralni?

“Daddy?” Gohan asked in a low whine.

“Schh, not now Gohan. Be quiet.” Goku shushed him, scared to be distracted and miss anything.

“But daddy I think—Daddy watch out!” Gohan screamed, just as hands seemed to shoot out of the plating of the ship they were hiding behind and grab for Goku and his son.

Thanks to Gohan’s warning, Goku managed to dodge to the side, but his muscle memory didn’t go well with his belly’s weight and changed center of gravity, and the sudden movement caused him to stumble and fall. He tried to roll into a controlled fall, but carrying Gohan made it impossible, and Goku ended up landing painfully on his side, the wind knocked out of him. Even so he quickly opened his eyes again, just in time to see Krotak, the yellow skinned alien who had grabbed his hair and threatened him before, seemingly melt out of the ship’s side like a chameleon slowly revealing itself.

“Well, you are certainly fast for a pregnant person.” He said with a grin as the color of his skin slowly reverted back to yellow. “There aren’t many who can dodge my camouflage attack.”

Teeth gritted, Goku let go of Gohan and got back up. Gohan clung to his leg though. “Let go son.” Goku told him. “Daddy has to fight.”

“Oh you’re gonna fight?” Krotak asked, voice mocking. “Ha, you’re a riot. I’ll look forward to fucking all that fire out of you. I wonder how long it’ll take for you to break.”

“The only way you’re getting near me is when I twist your head off.” Goku growled as he got into a battle stance.

Krotak rolled his eyes. “Boss knew there was trouble when you didn’t get here on time, so we were waiting for you. But damn, you really don’t give up, do you?”

“No, I don’t.” Goku said, and then attacked.

Judging from the way Krotak’s eyes widened, he was surprised by Goku’s speed. He only narrowly avoided a punch aimed at his head, which had the potential to take it clear off. “Whoa, what the hell. You’re only supposed to be a five thousand!”

Instead of responding to the pirate’s confusion, Goku let out a roar of long suppressed rage and aimed for his throat, fingers curled like claws and sharpened with ki.

This time Krotak was too slow to react, and the thin skin of his throat parted like soft butter under Goku’s nails. The pirate fell to his knees, red bubbling past his lips as he slowly choked on his own blood. He stared at Goku with wide eyes as his scouter beeped warningly at him, too late in informing him of his opponent’s power spike. “Th-thirteen thous-sand.” Krotak gurgled. “H-how?”

Eyes still wide from incomprehension, Krotak slumped to the ground where he kept convulsing as he died.

Meanwhile, Goku watched him, chest heaving from labored breaths. “My mate taught me that attack.” He spat, as blood slowly cooled on his hand. Vegeta himself was known to make his entire arm into a blade of ki, and had no scruples using it on opponents. Goku had always found it violent and gory, which wasn’t strange for a killing technique. But this time, he couldn’t find any sympathy for the man he had just used it to kill. Vegeta had overheard Krotak threatening Goku—this was payback.

Before Goku could turn back to his son, two muscle-corded arms wrapped around his throat from behind and cut off his air. Goku immediately kicked backwards, hoping to hit his attacker, but his struggles were futile and earned him little more than a grunt. “I wondered what was taking Krotak so long. Been hiding our power have we, prince Kakarot?” Gralni hissed into Goku’s ear.

Goku twisted and snarled, but the pirate leader’s hold stayed strong. “You cost me some of my best men you bitch.” Gralni growled, voice going darker. “Maybe I should take something of yours.”

With those words, Gralni unwrapped one of his arms from Goku’s throat and snaked it around Goku’s waist instead so his hand hovered just over Goku’s belly. “I wonder what a concentrated blast of ki will do to your baby. Care to find out?”

The words made Goku’s heart swell from panic, and involuntarily, his body went limp. It was the same thing that had happened when Turles ‘attacked’ him, and Goku recognized it this time, but the sensation of Gralni’s hand hovering just over his unborn child was too much— Goku was too scared to move.

“That’s what I thought.” The pirate hissed next to his cheek, just before he tightened his hold on Goku’s neck and cut off the blood flow to his brain.

Goku gasped and clawed at Gralnis arm, eyes wide even as his consciousness started dimming. Seconds later Goku lost motor function and his hands fell limply to his side as he slumped in Gralni’s hold. ‘ _Vegeta…. I’m sorry.’_ Goku thought as the last thing, before passing out.

 

xXx

 

The ground was vibrating under his head when Goku came to, and it didn’t take him long to recognize it as the humming of engines. Slowly he opened his eyes, and was almost immediately met with Raditz’ concerned face peering down at him.

“Wh-where’s Gohan?” Was the first thing Goku wanted to know. His voice sounded croaky from being choked.

“He’s safe. The leader knocked him out, but he’s right here. He woke up before you.”

Now that Raditz had told him, Goku finally noticed the heat from his son, who was resting right next to him, curled up against his mother’s body. Gohan looked like he had cried himself into an exhausted sleep.

Goku watched his son for a moment, then looked back at his older brother. His lower lip started wobbling. “Raditz I’m sorry. I couldn’t get free—I failed.”

With a deep sigh, Raditz gripped Goku’s shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. “Yea… but at least you took out that yellow skinned bastard. I saw his body when they dragged me aboard this ship.”

Carefully, and with some wincing, Goku sat up and looked around. They were in a cramped and dark kind of cargo bay, and once more chained up and shackled. Only their saiyan low light vision allowed them to see much of anything. “…He slipped past Turles, didn’t he.” Goku guessed after a moment.

“Yea. The fucker is a good pilot, unfortunately.” Raditz said. “He made a burst, then shut off everything but life support and let the ship float away using the momentum it caused until we were out of scanner reach.”

Goku closed his eyes. That meant that after everything, they were still moving towards Frieza.

“Hey… Kakarot come here.” Raditz said when he noticed his brother’s defeated look and how he was shaking. He put an arm around Goku and pulled him close, until he was leaning against Raditz’ chest. “It’s cold in here, huh?” He joked, allowing Goku to blame his shaking on that.

It _was_ cold in the cargo bay, but that wasn’t why Goku huddled close to his brother and hid his face between Raditz’ shoulder and neck. He was so tired, his body and head screaming for rest. Constant adrenaline bursts and no food had left him so drained that he couldn’t even protect himself from the chill. His limbs felt heavy, like he had weights tied to them, his stomach was tying knots on itself from hunger and a headache was dunking right behind his eyes. There was also the quickly rising dread which forced acid up into his throat until Goku felt sick and nauseated from it. For the first time, he considered the possibility that Vegeta might not catch up to them—that they might not be saved.

“Shh…” Raditz hushed him like he was a child, and Goku realized that he was letting out a low keening whine, almost like he was crying. “You bought all the time you could, and they’re still tracking us. Vegeta will make it.”

Goku pulled back a bit. “You don’t believe that.” He said, and realized that it was the truth when he caught Raditz’ expression.

Raditz’ lips were thin and bloodless, pressed together, and his eyebrows were pinched. He didn’t deny Goku’s accusation.

“Raditz…” Goku said slowly, in a small shaky voice. “What will happen to us when we get to Frieza?”

“I…” Raditz looked down, expression pained. “I don’t know Kakarot.” He admitted.

Goku grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “At least we’re together.” He said as he leaned against Raditz once more. “I didn’t have to leave you behind.”

“Yea, at least there is that.” Raditz agreed quietly, as he rested his head against Goku’s.

They sat together like that for a long time, silent and cold, as the ship continued to carry them through the stars and ever closer to their enemy.

 

xXx

 

They had slept in turns, agreeing that it was best they tried to get some rest in despite their circumstances, but even so Goku still felt exhausted and cold when the ship’s rumbling and shaking alerted him to the fact that they were landing. Gralni had fed them some mealy energy bars during the trip, but it didn’t account for much for a saiyan stomach, and Goku was still shaky from hunger. So was Raditz, but he was hiding it better.

Gohan was also beginning to starve, and at this point the little boy did nothing but cling to his mother or uncle and cry, too drained for anything else. Even his tail hang limp. No one could blame him for that. He was only three years old, and had no way to deal with their situation. “Papa…” He sniffled in his sleep, still calling for his father to come and save them, even in his dreams.  

“Why are we already landing?” Goku asked when he felt the ship stopping and heard the engines turn off and the hiss of the cooldown procedure starting. They should still have a while before they reached Frieza. Even so he shook Gohan awake, just as a precaution. The little boy sat up and groggily rubbed his swollen eyes.   

“I’m not sure.” Raditz said. “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“…Unless Frieza was flying to meet us too.”

Only moments after the words left his lips, the loading bay to the cargo hold started opening. Light spilled into the dark room and caused the three saiyans to blink and squint.

“There they are.” They could hear Gralni say as the ramp finished lowering. “Two and a half royal, unharmed, and an extra monkey thrown in.”

“Hmm, yes. You’ll of course understand that we wish to check their identities before payment.” An unknown man responded. From his tone of voice, it was clear that Gralni had no choice but to comply.

“Of course, of course.” The pirate assured nervously.

Goku raised an arm to shield his eyes from the light, and slowly managed to focus on the newcomer. Goku couldn’t identify his race, but his skin was a light turquoise, and his long straight hair was green and fastened in a single thick braid which rested fashionably over his shoulder. He had golden eyes and was actually quite handsome.  

“Shit.” Raditz cursed from beside him, clearly recognizing the green haired man even though Goku didn’t. “That’s Zarbon, Frieza’s right hand aide.”

Goku thought he recognized the name, and watched warily as Zarbon waved forth a handful of soldiers and pointed them towards the saiyans. “Get them out here.”

“Yes lord Zarbon.” The soldiers answered as one, and quickly rushed into the cargo hold.

Goku picked Gohan up and held him close as soon as the soldiers drew near. Otherwise he did nothing but hiss a bit as they pulled on his chains while they dragged him outside. Once they were out of the ship, the soldiers forced Goku and Raditz to kneel again.

With a satisfied hum, Zarbon sauntered closer and bent over to expect Goku’s face. Seeing as the jig was already up, Goku just glared back. “My my, yes there is no mistaking it.” Zarbon said and straightened up again. “This one and the cub is definitely Vegeta’s mate and child, but the other one…” Zarbon took a few steps to the side and looked down at Raditz with a frown. “Who are you?”

“Just a guard.” Raditz said, while gazing back steadily. He seemed strangely calm.

Goku made a sound, which caught Raditz attention. He looked to the side and caught Goku’s eyes, and Goku saw something there he couldn’t read. “Sorry Kakarot.” Raditz mouthed.

Goku frowned. He didn’t understand.

Zarbon just lifted an eyebrow. “Well, then we have no use of you.”

With zero time to react, Goku could only watch as Zarbon lifted a hand, extended a single finger, and shot Raditz straight through the heart.

Raditz fell back, his strings cut like a doll’s, and landed on the ground with an almost soft thump. His head lolled to the side, his eyes till open, but glassy and lifeless.

He had died before he touched the floor.

For a moment, everything stood still. Goku watched his brother’s corpse, unable to understand—unable to _comprehend_. It had happened so fast, just one second he was there, and then gone.

Then the ground started shaking. Goku didn’t realize that it was him doing it, that he was _screaming_ while his power surged, before Zarbon stepped closer with gritted teeth and pulled Gohan from his grasp.

“You had better settle down monkey, or your cub gets it.” Zarbon said as he warningly wrapped a hand around Gohan’s tail and squeezed.

Gohan’s loud cry as his tail was bent out of shape was enough to break Goku out of his catatonia. He stopped screaming, his chest heaving as his power slowly pulled back in. For several seconds, Goku couldn’t focus on anything. His head was spinning, thoughts out of control. But even so he slowly raised his head and stared at Zarbon with horror, mouth still open and eyes wet from tears. “Why…?”

Zarbon didn’t deem it necessary to answer, in fact he wasn’t even looking at Goku. “Get him hosed off, then take them to lord Frieza.” He told the soldiers. “Dispose of the corpse.”

“Give me my son back.” Goku demanded, mouth moving before he could think and eyes flickering between Zarbon, Gohan and Raditz’ body. The last still hadn’t sunken in.

“No.” Zarbon said, a mean smirk stretching his lips as he focused back on Goku. “The little one is staying with me. Have fun with your bath now!” He called mockingly, as the soldiers once more grabbed Goku’s chains and started pulling him away.

“Daddy! DADDYYY!” Gohan cried, his little hands outstretched towards his mother as Goku was pulled away.  

Goku fought. He snarled, he bit and he yanked on his chains hard enough to trip the soldiers, but it didn’t help. Soon after he was pulled inside and Gohan and Zarbon disappeared from sight.

Once the doors to the elevator closed and it started going up, Goku slumped and curled over, his tears finally spilling.

“Raditz…” He cried, tears dripping on the metallic floor and blurring his vision. Zarbon had shot him like a dog, and then ordered him disposed of like garbage. He had treated Goku’s brother like an afterthought—as something dispensable. “You said we’d be together…”

But Raditz had known. That last look he had sent Goku—it told him Raditz had known what would happen.  

One of the soldiers overhead Goku’s mumbled cries, and snorted. “Together? Get real. You’re alone now, and you’d be lucky if you got the same treatment as the sad schmuck out there. For you things are gonna be much worse.”

For once, Goku absolutely believed that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn’t clear, Raditz knew all along that he would die, and would rather be killed quickly than be used as another thing to torture his brother with, or get tortured himself. So he lied and said he was nothing but a guard— in other words dispensable. This way, if Goku gets a chance to run, he won’t waste time trying to save Raditz again.  
> So yes, Raditz is dead now. Very dead. 
> 
> Anyway, whoo, 40 chapters! Yay!  
> ...Hey now. Why are you guys all looking so upset? Aren't you in a party mood? *Author gets shot for bad comedic timing*


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone gets a trauma for free, and the next for half price off. 
> 
> Please note the updated tags...

“Prince Vegeta, a report has—“

“Give it to me.” Vegeta said and impatiently ripped the data disc out of the officer’s hand. He inserted it into the captain chair’s input, and seconds later a see through screen display popped up. Vegeta read over the report, his face slowly paling. “…Put me through to Turles.”

“It… It would probably do no good sir.” The officer meekly informed him. “He is still chasing down the last pirates, trying to see if they know anythi—“

“PUT ME THROUGH!” Vegeta roared.

Spurred on by his angry outburst, the officers on the bridge jumped to comply.

Meanwhile, Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to breathe. His head was hammering from a vicious migraine, but that wasn’t what had him short of breath.  “Do we still have a lock on their tracker?”

The officers exchanged glances, silently arguing who should respond, before one navigator bravely spoke up. “No sir… We lost steady readings just a little before Turles’ report came through.”

Vegeta cursed.

“Call to commander Turles has gone through.” A communications officer called, just as the main screen flickered to life and the man in question appeared.

Turles looked tense, and behind him the people on his own bridge were working frantically. “I know why you’re calling, but this is not a good time Vegeta.” He said. As if to underline his statement, an explosion was heard from Turles side of the screen. The man cursed when it almost made him lose his footing. “Those blasted—“

“What the hell is happening over there.” Vegeta demanded. “ _How_ did you lose them?! They were right there!” Kakarot and Gohan had been so close. _So close_ to getting rescued, that for a moment, Vegeta had actually dared to hope…

“They slipped past me, somehow.” Turles growled as he motioned for an injured crewmate who _had_ fallen to get carried off the bridge. “Probably with a small ship, one capable of dodging our scanners. I’ve been trying to get a lock on Kakarot’s tracker ever since, but whatever vessel he is on isn’t sending out a strong enough pulse for the tracker’s frequency to hitch a ride. It must be cargo class, or a small shuttle of a kind.”

“I don’t give a crap what kind of ship it is.” Vegeta snapped. “Predict their trajectory with the data you have from their starting point and Frieza’s latest known location, and then go after them. You have to catch up with them before they reach their destination.”

Another distant explosion was heard from Turles side of the screen, and the image briefly flickered. Turles glared at a display for a moment, lips tight as he read over the ship’s automated diagnostics. “At this point, your ship would be more likely to intercept them. The pirates unleashed their single fighters and its tacking us too long to dispose of them. They’re everywhere, like gnats, but their blasters aren’t anything to scoff at. If we take too many hits it could damage our outer plating and force us to land on the nearest Coalition planet for repairs.”

At those news Vegeta pulled his hair and started pacing in circles. “Useless,” he muttered, lips pulling back into a snarl, “USELESS!” He swirled around and fixed Turles with a crazy eyed glare. “You failed! You do realize what this means, don’t you? At this point you are as good as _dead_.”

Turles curled his lip, but tried to stay calm, especially since Vegeta looked like he was close to losing it. “We both know that your reasoning for having me killed wouldn’t hold up during a tribunal hearing. I followed orders from prince Kakarot, my superior officer, and then I followed yours. The fact that I failed will, at worst, get me demoted.” Turles reasoned.

When Vegeta just snarled furiously at him, Turles decided that calling him out on his erratic behavior would be best. “I know why you’re doing this. Look, we both know I care for Kakarot, and that I want him back safely… But for you it must be even worse.” He looked away from Vegeta when he said it, a bitter expression flashing across his face. “Us fighting won’t help that.”

“No.” Vegeta agreed. “But the thought of taking it out on your hide makes me feel better. End call.” The call cut off and the screen turned dark before Turles could reply.  

Vegeta turned on his heel and continued pacing. Even though he had demanded it, Vegeta knew that there was very little chance of still catching up in time. And when Frieza got his hands on Vegeta’s family…

Vegeta knew what would happen then, and the thought of it filled him with dread.

 

xXx

 

Getting stripped naked, pushed into a cold bare room with nothing but a drain and then blasted with cold water from a powerful hose was not only uncomfortable and painful, it was supposed to be demeaning. Goku was smart enough to recognize a torture method when he saw it, and this certainly wasn’t to get him clean. Gritting his teeth, Goku focused on protecting his belly from the powerful jet of water. He couldn’t protect Raditz, and Gohan had been taken from him—pulled right out of his arms. But Goku would die before he let them hurt his unborn child too.

After it was finally over, and Goku was shivering even more violently than before, he was thrown a coarse set of brown clothes consisting of a shirt and drawstring pants. Clothes for a prisoner. He wasn’t given anything to dry off with, and had to pull on the clothes still sobbing wet.

As soon as he walked out of the ‘shower room’ Goku was grabbed and shackled again. He stood still while they put them on him, but made sure to pay close attention to the soldiers around him. Anyone showing signs of weakness or old injury, Goku spotted and took note of. The man with the limp, the woman with the stiff shoulder… If he was left alone with them and they were caught unawares, one of them could be his ticket out. 

Cold water continued to run down his neck and drip from his hair as the soldiers led him through the ship, barefooted and stumbling from exhaustion. Even his shoes they had taken. Despite this, Goku didn’t stop thinking, and he didn’t stop looking for escape routes. Right now he was focusing on tracking the ki of his son, but still noticed that there were a lot of strong individuals here— as many as there were on Base One if not more. Goku doubted there was any soldier here with a power level below fifteen thousand, and that wasn’t a comforting thought.

Even so, there was no way he could give up.

Goku knew he was running on close to empty, with no food, little sleep and high stress affecting him on top of his pregnancy. If he was to retain any hope of getting away, he would have to play it very, _very_ safe from now on. Wasting energy on anything that wouldn’t work could prove fatal. His escape attempt back at the pirate ship had showed him that there was still a chance though. Gralni had been stronger than him, but if Goku hadn’t been caught unaware, he might have made it.

He couldn’t rely on Vegeta to save him anymore. If his mate made it here, Goku knew Vegeta would be killed.

No. The only way Goku and his children were getting out of here, was if Goku found some way himself.

That meant he couldn’t allow himself to get swallowed by fear. No more crying—Raditz wasn’t here to comfort him anymore, and it wouldn’t help anything. Instead Goku let the rage simmering inside bubble up and fill his chest, until he felt like his ribcage was on fire. He was shaking, but no longer from fright.

Goku wasn’t sure what would happen to him next, but he knew that the fire he had burning inside would be all he had to help carry him through. He just hoped it would be enough.

 

xXx

 

The bridge of Frieza’s ship was more like a viewing deck. Not that Goku got a chance to appreciate the view of the stars before he was once again pushed harshly to his knees. At this point his bruises had bruises.

Two of the soldiers stayed behind him, hands on his shoulders serving both to hold him down and as a warning. The others went to stand along the wall, faces blank as they kept guard. 

For a long moment, Goku kept his head lowered. From directly in front of him, Goku could feel an immense but chilling power emanate from another person. There was an almost tangible cold in the room, a sharpness to the air, which all stemmed from that dark and menacing ki.

“Lord Frieza. We have brought the prisoner.” One of the soldiers escorting Goku said.

“Hohohoho, how wonderful. I have been looking forward to this.”

It was eerie how light and almost cheerful Frieza sounded. Goku had seen pictures of the dictator, videos too, but he had never heard him speak before. Swallowing deeply, Goku slowly looked up, directly into a pair of cold red eyes. Frieza was watching with a pleased smirk stretching his lips.  

Goku’s first thought was that Frieza was smaller than he had expected. But of course, size didn’t dictate power, and there was no mistaking the frightening ki filling the room. Goku swallowed heavily, his mouth dry. Was _this_ really what he and Vegeta had planned to go up against? Goku had thought they were close, but…. Fighting Frieza at this point would be tantamount to suicide.  

“Well, are you just going to glare?” Frieza asked, head tilted as he observed his captive. “I had thought that the mate of Vegeta would have _something_ to say to me.” He walked closer, hands clasped behind his back as he circled Goku while looking him over. “…It’s interesting, seeing who Vegeta chose to bind himself to. I wonder… Does he care for you?”

Goku didn’t respond to the inquiry, but he kept warily following Frieza with his eyes. He lost sight of him when Frieza stopped directly behind him.

“Answer me.” Frieza said, voice going colder.

The hairs on the back of Goku’s neck stood up. Having a powerful enemy standing behind him while he was weakened and chained gave the same sense of paranoia that being followed by unknown footsteps at night did. It was the sensation of impending attack, and helplessness against it.

Goku moistened his lips. He got the feeling that letting Frieza how much Vegeta cared would be a very bad idea. “…Our union made sense. I wouldn’t presume to know what he thinks about it.” He said instead, making sure to keep his voice steady while delivering the lie.

“Oh?” Frieza asked as he circled back to Goku’s front. “A marriage of convenience is it?” He gazed at Goku for a long moment, while Goku looked back expressionlessly. Then Frieza smirked. “I wonder then, if the objective was to produce an heir, why are you pregnant again?”

“I…” Goku’s eyes widened briefly, before a plausible lie came to him. “As a backup.”

Instead of responding, Frieza threw his head back and laughed. It was the same eerie “Hohohoho” as before. “You really are a terrible liar.” Frieza chuckled. “Not like Vegeta at all.” His voice and expression darkened then, and the air grew colder. “He made a fool of me for years. YEARS!”

The sudden outburst made Frieza’s own men flinch. Lizard tail lashing, Frieza paced. “He had us all convinced he was a maniac—a mad dog on a leash. _My_ leash.” Frieza gnashed his teeth. “He was a _child_ , so how? How did he trick us?!”

“Because Vegeta is smarter than you.” Goku said before he could stop himself, gaze unflinching as he stared Frieza down. “And no matter what you are planning now, you will still lose in the end.”

For a second it looked like Frieza would explode, his face twisting into something absolutely deranged. But then, just as suddenly, it was gone. Frieza smiled back at him, expression almost pleasant once more. “You have no idea what I’m planning, _saiyan_ , but you will soon find out.” He turned then, and addressed a couple of officers sitting at the ship’s controls. “Gentlemen, please broadcast this message on the widest frequency on the subspace radio,”

Frieza folded his hands behind his back and cleared his throat, “Prince Vegeta, this is lord Frieza speaking. I have your mate and child. Should you have any interest in getting them back, you will contact me on the accompanying frequency. That is all.”

Message delivered, Frieza focused back on Goku, who was glaring back at him. “Now, while we are waiting for my former employee to call back, why don’t we bring up our youngest guest?” He asked as he pressed the side of the scouter he was wearing. “Mr. Zarbon, please bring up the child.”

Only moments later, the door to the bridge opened and Zarbon walked in. Goku couldn’t help it—he immediately turned to seek out the sight of his son. “Gohan!”

Gohan struggled in Zarbon’s grip, face twisted as he clawed and snarled. Zarbon’s arms bore the marks from it; both scratches and bites were visible on his turquoise skin. As soon as he heard his name called though, Gohan stopped snarling and his head snapped up, eyes focusing on his parent. “Daddy!” He cried, face crumbling back into an expression full of distress. He stretched out his small chubby arms, reaching for Goku once more. “Daddy!”

Zarbon looked hassled. “This little brat—“ He growled. “As soon as his mother was out of sight he started fighting. Look at what he did to my beautiful skin!”

Frieza walked closer and looked them over with vague interest. “From the looks of it, you already repaid him.” He said, noting the swelling bruises on Gohan’s face. “I told you not to harm him yet.”

“I—My apologies Lord Frieza.” Zarbon said, while bowing deeply.

“Never mind.” Frieza said, focus still on Gohan. The little boy was still reaching for Goku, wanting the relative safety of his mother’s arms. Frieza tilted his head, and his scouter beeped. “He doesn’t look much like his father. Hm, but he _is_ strong for his age. Interesting.”

“Give him to me.” Goku said, eyes flicking between his son, Frieza and Zarbon. Having his son that close to Frieza, to a vicious predator, made his heart pound and his hands shake from instinctual fear.  “Just—Let me hold him. Please.”

“Ohohoho. What is this?” Frieza asked, slowly turning his head to look at Goku again. “A ‘please’? Already? It looks like your cubs really are you saiyans’ weak point.”

Since his demands weren’t being met, Gohan let out a loud wail and started trashing in Zarbon’s hold again. “Let me go! I want my daddy!”

“No one cares what you want kid.” Zarbon snarled, and covered Gohan’s lower face with his hand, which effectively muted him.

“Ah, thank you Zarbon. Please continue to keep him quiet until I say so.” Frieza said.

Meanwhile, Goku focused on his son and tried to make his voice sound calming. “Shh, don’t cry Gohan. Remember what papa told you, okay?” Asking a 3 year old to stay strong in the face of abuse and murder might be unreasonable, but anything to stop them from harming his son out of frustration again.  

With fat tears still falling from his eyes and rolling down his cheeks, Gohan looked at his daddy and after a moment managed to stop audibly crying. Goku smiled encouragingly at him. It was all he could do right now.  

“Speaking of the boy’s _papa_ ,” Frieza said as he turned towards the communication screens. “I do believe that’s him calling.”

Heart lodged in his throat, Goku turned his head to look at the screen. Only moments later Vegeta’s image appeared, flickering and static for a moment before turning almost unbearably crisp. For the first time in over a week, Goku took in the sight of his mate, and what he saw made his stomach drop.  

Vegeta looked haggard, with dag bags under his eyes and gaunt cheeks. His skin was pale and waxy, and his hands were shaking faintly—tremors from exhaustion and stress.  

Vegeta hardly glanced at Frieza. Instead his dark eyes immediately sought out his mate, and locked with Goku’s. “Kakarot…” He breathed, voice breaking on the name.

Goku gazed back helplessly, unable to say anything. Unable to find his voice. Vegeta’s expression was too heartbreaking.

Frieza looked between them, a smile spreading on his face. Then he laughed. “Well, that certainly answers my question. It would appear he _does_ care!”

For a long moment it looked like Vegeta hadn’t even heard him, too absorbed in taking Goku in. Then his face slowly transformed from fear into anger, and his focus shifted, until he was glaring at Frieza with nothing but pure rage. “ _Frieza._ ”

“Vegeta.” Frieza responded with a smile, but there was a manic glint to his eyes. “How lovely of you to join us. How are you?”

“ _Let them go_.” Vegeta spat, tail bristling and lashing behind him. His hands were clenching and releasing, as if he longed to strangle Frieza, distance or not.  

Frieza lifted a hand and wagged a finger at him. “Now now. We both know it’s not that easy. _But_ …” He trailed off with a smile and walked closer to Goku, then ran his own tail lightly down his back. Goku flinched at the unexpected action, but the soldiers holding him down forced him to stay still. “I _am_ willing to trade.”

Vegeta stared at how Frieza was stroking Goku’s back, face paling. Then he visibly clenched his jaw and glared back at the tyrant once more. “What do you want?”

“Why it’s simple.” Frieza said lightly. “You see, some years ago I experienced an act of insubordination. Of _mutiny_. Normally such actions result in corporal punishment or execution. Because you see,” Frieza chuckled, “I can’t very well run an empire if I allow such things to go unpunished. It sends a bad message.” Frieza shook his head, and threw out his arms. “But then the unfortunate thing happened. The criminal escaped!”

Once more, Frieza turned to watch his prisoners. “So now the choice is this. Either he gives himself up in trade for his mate and child, _or_ —“ Frieza caught Goku’s chin and forced his head up, only to gaze down at him almost fondly. “—His mate and child receive his punishment.”

Vegeta’s breathing shuttered. “ _No_ —”

“—Don’t!” With panic swelling in his chest Goku yanked his head free and whipped it around to his mate. “Don’t do it Vegeta! You know he’s lying!” Goku yelled desperately. “Whatever he does to me, you can’t come here. Promise me!”

The words had hardly left his lips before Goku suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor, ears ringing. Pain was zapping through his skull like lighting, and his vision blurred. He could taste blood. He knew he had been struck, but it had happened too fast for him to react.

Head swimming, Goku slowly got up. Frieza was talking again, but it took him a moment to focus on the words.

“—As you can see Vegeta, listening to your mate is inadvisable. Given his condition, I doubt he would make it for long.”   

“Kakarot!” Vegeta called, voice sounding panicked.

Goku raised a hand to his head and hissed. “I-I’m okay. Don’t come Vegeta. _Don’t_.” When he finally managed to lift his gaze and focus on the screen, he was caught by the stark fear visible in Vegeta’s eyes. Goku’s lower lip quivered, and once more, he wished he had never left. He wanted to touch Vegeta, to tell him sorry a million times and assure him that everything would be all right. That would be a blatant lie though. Their planet was safe now, but the cost…

Frieza sighed, sounding aggrieved. “Well if your mate can’t convince you, maybe your son can. Zarbon?”

The words made Goku break eye contact with Vegeta and whip around, “Gohan don’t—“

But Goku’s warning came too late. At his cue, Zarbon removed his hand from Gohan’s mouth, and the result was immediate. “PAPA!” Gohan screamed, now straining for the screen. “Papa help! They hurt daddy and uncle Raditz! He stopped moving!”

Vegeta stared helplessly at his son, something in his expression breaking.

Goku couldn’t watch this anymore. He had to make Vegeta stay away—he had to prevent any further loss. It was too late for him to help them. “Raditz is dead, and they’ll kill us too. You _know_ that Vegeta.” When his mate turned his head to look at him, Goku had to swallow past the lump in his throat. His voice shook as he continued. “But it’s not too late. Find Tarble, he’ll tell you what to do.” Goku closed his eyes. “End the call now. You don’t have to see this.”

“Ah ah, not so fast.” Frieza said as he sauntered closer to Goku once more. “If he ends the call, you’ll die, that’s true. But there are many ways to kill a man.” He gripped Goku’s face again, this time squeezing his cheeks hard enough to bruise. “And he _will_ see it. I’ll record everything I do to you, and then I’ll spread it. The videos will be everywhere, and sooner or later, he will look.” A slow unnerving smile spread on Frieza’s face. “Imagine it. Days’ worth of footage— you can’t even begin to comprehend how many kinds of torture I could put you and your children through in that time.”

Goku glared back. “The alternative is no better.”

Frieza just smiled. “Let’s let Vegeta decide that. In the meantime, we will start the show.”

On the screen, Vegeta jerked and made a strangled sound. “No—! If I agree, you said you wouldn’t hurt them!”

With a grin, Frieza turned his focus back on Vegeta. “Oh I never said _that_. But I’ll make a concession. For now your son won’t be touched. End the call though, and I’ll switch to him immediately.” Since he still had a hand Goku’s face, it was easy for Frieza to quickly move it to strangle Goku’s protest. “But if you want your mate back still functioning, I suggest you hurry.”

Unable to speak, Goku could only stare Vegeta in the eyes and try to communicate how important it was that he _didn’t_ come. Dragon balls or not, Vegeta coming here would mean death for him too, and you could only bring someone back once. If they fought Frieza later, and he died in the process, there would be no way to fix it.

Of course Vegeta had no way of knowing this. As far as he knew, Goku, Gohan and the baby dying would be _permanent_ , and it was too late for Goku to tell him anything else.

Even so Goku stared at him and tried to shake his head, eyes begging.

Vegeta stared back at him, the look in his black eyes indescribable. Then they flickered and Goku just knew—His pleas had been ignored.

Vegeta looked away and closed his eyes. His shoulders fell. “…Set the course for Frieza’s ship.”

 

xXx

 

In the past, Vegeta had not suffered from nightmares. He may have done objectively horrible things while working for Frieza, but they hadn’t weighed on his conscience much. Vegeta was a saiyan, and even without Frieza, the saiyans had always been a bloodthirsty and battle orientated species. They _thrived_ on carnage. No, Vegeta might have suffered mental scars in other ways, and he certainly carried a deep anger from being ordered around by a piece of lizard scum, but his actions didn’t plague him. There had been a reason why he had to do it, and a goal for him to keep in mind. So he had done what needed to be done— simple as that.

Then he had met Kakarot, _mated_ Kakarot, and things had changed.

For the first time in his life, Vegeta had woken up from a nightmare shaking and yelling. Kakarot had been woken by the noise too, and had assumed that Vegeta’s past was haunting him. Vegeta had let him keep his assumptions, but the truth was very different.

Vegeta hadn’t seen a nightmare of the past, but rather of a future that he feared. A vision where he failed in his battle against Frieza, where he lost and as a result, Kakarot was lost too—killed by Frieza, as Vegeta had seen him kill many others in the past.  

Until then, Vegeta had not been very familiar with the concept of fear. He hadn’t cared enough about anyone else to be, and he was cocky enough not to worry much for himself.

But after getting a mate and becoming a father? Fear was his constant companion.

Right now, it was hard for Vegeta to tell if it was there or not though, or if it was already too late for that. If what he felt now was instead despair.

_The sound of a whip, then a sharp cry._

Vegeta stood on the bridge of his ship, back straight and hands clenched into fists, his shoulders so tense that the muscles were fraying. His eyes stayed peeled to the screen in front of him, red and sore from the strain. Yet he didn’t look away—he couldn’t.

_“Such a defiant expression. But at least you finally cried out. You know, I’ve never seen anyone stay so stubborn under torture for so long. Maybe it’s because I never bothered to torture saiyans?”_

_Another sharp crack. No cry this time._

_“I made Vegeta do that, you see. He hated it.”_  

Around him his crew worked silently, expressions somber. Some flinched at the sounds from the screen, while others had tears in their eyes. At this point the entire fleet, the saiyan army and all their allies, were making their way towards Frieza’s position.

It was stupid, a truly moronic move. Vegeta knew that. But he couldn’t stop.

_“Again with the glaring…” A deep sigh. “Mr. Dodoria, I tire of his defiance. Why don’t you give him a little less to glare with?”_

For the first time in his life, Vegeta understood why his mother had done as she did all those years ago—why she had risked everything on a miniscule chance of success.

_Kakarot’s scream rang out. He didn’t stop screaming, not for several minutes._

Vegeta clenched his fists so hard his nails bore into his skin and blood started dripping to the floor. Nausea rolled in his stomach—he felt like throwing up.

_“Ah, he passed out. I hope you weren’t too fond of your mate’s beautiful eyes Vegeta, because from now on, you’ll have to make do with one.”_

Yes, Vegeta understood why his mother had acted. Why she had risked it. It was because the alternative made death look more appealing.  

 

xXx

 

“Pull off another nail Mr. Dodoria.” Frieza requested calmly.

“He hasn’t got anymore sir.” Dodoria, the man who had been called to torture Goku, informed.

“Hm…” Frieza tapped his chin. “How many places have you broken his tail?”

“Four sir, but he hardly reacted to the last.” Dodoria said.

“Cut it off then.”

Goku strangled a cry as Dodoria roughly grabbed his broken tail, pulled it out straight despite the kinks and swelling, and put a serrated knife to the sensitive root. The sound the rough blade made sawing through his muscle and bone was sickening, and the pain was enough to almost make Goku black out again. He must have, for a second, because next thing Goku knew, he was lying with his cheek against the cold floor and moments later his severed fifth limb landed in front of his face with a dull thump. It was still twitching.

Goku watched it through his one remaining eye. The other was lying somewhere off in the corner nearest to the door. He couldn’t focus properly, his vision was too bleary.  

Frieza’s distinctive alien feet came into view, and he kicked the tail away. Then he kneeled down, grabbed Goku’s hair and pulled him up by it until they were face to face, ignoring how he was pulling on Goku’s already bleeding scalp. This was not the first hair he lost. “How is it, hmm? Are you feeling up to begging again yet?”

Goku spat Frieza in the face; his bloody spit landing dead center.

Seconds later his skull connected with the floor, lightning stabbing through his brain. Spots danced in front of his vision. He hardly noticed Frieza releasing his hair and standing up. “Mr. Dodoria, please take the whip back out.”

“You heard him. Get back on your knees.” Dodoria ordered, then grabbed Goku by his arms, which were tied behind his back, and pulled him up manually. Asking him to move anywhere at this point was pretty much a farce. Goku could hardly keep kneeling without falling down. Perhaps seeing this, Dodoria cut his hands loose and Goku immediately fell forward to his hands and knees.

His fingers looked mangled, just bloody stumps. They smeared more blood against the already grimy floor. A couple of his teeth lay just a few inches to the side, same with some of his nails. There were parts of Goku littered all over the room.    

Goku closed his eye. There was a sharp whistle of an object moving fast through the air, and then the whip hit him. The impact rocked his whole body and made his back bow, but Goku bit his lip to keep from crying out. He couldn’t cry—both Vegeta and Gohan were watching. No matter what they did, Goku refused to cry out. He had only slipped up a few times so far, like when his eye had been gouged out.

Another hit. This one drew fresh blood, which pooled briefly along his spine before gliding down his side and along the curve of his swollen belly. Head hanging between his shaking arms, Goku watched his blood drip to the floor. He tried focusing on that instead of the lashings. His arms were shaking, muscles weak.

Another crack.  

By the time his arms gave out, Goku had lost count. He lay on his side, panting, as the smell of blood and bile assaulted his nose. He had thrown up after the first round with the whip, but by now, he was in so much pain that he couldn’t focus on the nausea, if he still felt it. It was so cold in the room… Goku couldn’t stop shaking. It was getting hard to tell the different sensations apart.  

“…I think he’s losing too much blood.” Dodoria noted. “It’s not flowing properly anymore.”

“Well we can’t have that.” Frieza said. “Burn his wounds shut.”

If he had had the strength, Goku would have tensed up at the prospect of burning. As it were, he could only lie in a pool of his own blood, shivering as he heard the clanking of a heavy iron instrument being handled. Then the sound of something like a blowtorch being turned on.

“You want to do anything else to him Lord Frieza?” Dodoria asked as he heated the iron. “I don’t think he’ll be conscious after this.”

“Hm…” There was the sound of footsteps coming closer. “Open your eye—look at me.” Something cold touched the side of Goku’s face. A blade?

“I told you to _look at me_ , or I’ll do this to your son instead.”

Slowly, Goku opened his eye. He couldn’t focus though, everything was a blur. He could hear Gohan’s muffled crying in the background, and smell the scent of heated iron, metallic and bitter, and mixing with blood and sweat.

“Close enough, I suppose.” Frieza observed.

The cold—no, the _blade_ moved. It cut. Blood started running into Goku’s ear. It muffled the sound of his son’s cries.

“There, one ear to match your one eye. I do love symmetry.”

Oh. So that was what had happened. Goku closed his eye again.  

“The iron is ready lord Frieza.”

“Do it.”

Goku felt the heat coming closer. He wanted to move, but he couldn’t. His body wouldn’t obey. Then the iron touched his back, with an audible sizzle as it seared his skin. Like bacon frying on a too hot pan. It was excruciating. Bands of fire engulfed him, and Goku wanted to scream, but it stuck in his throat. He was paralyzed. His brain shorted out—it was simply too much.

He would have welcomed the darkness, but it wasn’t granted to him.

He lost track of time, of reality. There was only pain.  

Slowly, he came back. The stench of burned meat assaulted his nose. No—no, he didn’t want to come back. He wanted it to be over, he wanted to be dead already. “K-kill…” _Kill me, please_.

 

xXx

 

Frieza stretched until his back popped, then smiled at the screen and Vegeta. Oh, the look on the saiyan prince’s face. It was beautiful. His dark eyes were rimmed with red, and there were tears marring his cheeks. Shimmering pearls of Frieza’s victory. He had never seen Vegeta cry before, had doubted he even could—the sight of it was a rush. 

Frieza sent Vegeta a last triumphant smile. “End call.” He purred, and managed to catch a small glimpse of confusion and then fear, just before the connection shorted out.  

Then he turned and looked at the broken form on the floor. What a mess. If not for the faint shuddering of his chest, Frieza would have thought him dead. “Take him to the holding area and give him a fluid shot while you ready a tank Mr. Dodoria. I don’t want him to die before we can carve the child out of him.”

Dodoria was calmly packing his tools, but now looked up at his master. “You don’t want him alive when Vegeta gives himself up?”

Frieza laughed. “Gives himself up? Oh no, that fool is coming here to fight. Attacking is all he knows how to do—that won’t change now.” He smiled down at the broken saiyan at his feet. “…But imagine his expression Dodoria. Imagine how he will feel when I slaughter his screaming son right in front of him.”

“The baby?” Dodoria asked conversationally.

“No no.” Frieza said, with a thoughtful look at Kakarot’s swollen belly. “No… For all that he was a traitor, Vegeta did show considerable skill and cunning. I would like a saiyan for my own, a real one this time. Starting out with a baby and conditioning it well should remove any pesky chances of solidarity towards its own kind.” Frieza smiled. “This time, my pet will be obedient.”

Not to mention that having the child around would bring the constant memory of its parents humiliating defeat, and the joy associated with it. It would be a final mockery made of the saiyan race—their last prince or princess, forever Frieza’s loyal soldier.

“Now, take this mess and make sure he doesn’t die too soon. You can throw his oldest in the same room—give them a chance to say goodbye before I kill them.” More like despair in each other’s company, while knowing there was nothing they could do to prevent their death. Oh, the thought simply made Frieza feel euphoric. Revenge was certainly best served cold, and this was like eating ice cream. Simply delicious.

With a grunt Dodoria bent down and picked up his limp victim. Zarbon, who had been observing with an entertained expression until now, while he forced the little boy to watch his mother’s fate, detached himself from the wall and followed along.

xXx

No one realized, too busy with their plans and sense of victory, but before Goku was picked up, he had still been awake. And he had heard _everything_.     

xXx

“D-daddy…?” Gohan sniffled and carefully touched his mother’s cold cheek. It felt slimy from blood. He wanted to cuddle closer, to be comforted, but he was scared to touch. He wanted his daddy to wake up and tell him everything would be okay now. He always did, back home, when Gohan got scrapes and bruises. He would smile, pull Gohan into a warm hug and stroke his hair. Daddy normally smelled like sweet grass, like the fruit he always ate and baked things, and he felt like the sunshine in the nature room. Warm and safe. He wasn’t supposed to be like this, silent and cold and not moving. He smelled bad too, like fear and hurt. 

Uncle Raditz had stopped moving too, and then they had taken him somewhere. Gohan hadn’t seen him after that, and he wasn’t able to feel his energy anywhere. It made him scared. It was already difficult to feel daddy, what if he disappeared too?

Gohan could still feel his little brother though. He could even see him kicking against the thin stretched skin of their daddy’s belly. Daddy was hurt everywhere on his back, and lots of other places, but his belly where Gohan’s little brother was hadn’t been touched. Now Gohan placed his hand there, against where his brother was kicking. “It… It’ll be okay.” He told his baby sibling in a shaking voice. “Pa-papa’s not here yet, but we… I’m here. We’ll be okay.” No one was there to tell Gohan that right now, but saying the words to his little brother helped.

People kept talking about dying, and Gohan wasn’t completely sure what that meant, only that it was bad. If you died, you went far away, and couldn’t come back. The only place Gohan wanted to go was home.

He and daddy were in a very cold room right now, with very little light and nothing inside it. Just bare walls and a rough floor that felt like ice to the touch. Daddy shouldn’t be lying against something that cold, but Gohan was scared to move him. When daddy moved, it looked like it hurt him. Gohan knew that after being in this room for a while, the pink man called Dodoria would come back to hurt his daddy more.

Gohan scooted closer to his daddy and curled over him. Dodoria, Zarbon and Frieza were all really strong, and really scary. Gohan hadn’t even been able to get free. He hadn’t been able to help. How was he supposed to protect his daddy and little brother?

With a frustrated whine, Gohan squeezed his eyes shut, but still felt tears leak out. “I’m sorry papa.” He cried. He couldn’t save his daddy or brother, he couldn’t find his uncle and he couldn’t make his papa proud. Gohan couldn’t do _anything._   

“Go… han…?”

Daddy’s voice was weak, nothing more than a whisper. Gohan gasped and scrambled back enough to look at him. “Daddy? Daddy! Are you awake? I-I don’t know what to do. What do we do?!”

Goku’s eyelashes were fluttering, and his one eye was cloudy and unfocused. Slowly, he managed to move his arm, and with nail-less fingers reached for his son’s arm. His wristband. “Listen Gohan…” Goku breathed, struggling not to be pulled under by the pain. The injection of healing fluid he had gotten was helping, but not enough. “You… Have to stay calm. Can you do that for me?”

Judging by the way Gohan just started crying, the answer was no.

Goku gripped his son’s arm as hard as he could. This would be their only—their _last_ chance. Goku would _not_ let them carve his baby out of his belly. “Stop crying.” He ordered. “You need to listen, and you need to stay calm. You can save us, but only if you do as I say.”

Still sniffling, Gohan wiped his tears off his one cheek and looked at his daddy. “I-I can?”

Weakly, Goku blinked in confirmation. He was too tired and in too much pain to nod. “Do you remember…” He had to catch his breath. “…The story I told you, about how you were born?”

“Of course.” Gohan replied, confused. It was his favorite story, even if it was a little scary. He often made his parents tell it to him before he went to sleep. It was about how, when daddy had been pregnant with Gohan, he had gotten very sick. It was because Gohan was going to be really strong, but even though daddy was too, it hadn’t been enough. Papa had searched and searched for a cure, and everyone thought it was too late. That was the scary part. Then papa finally found one, on a planet with snow and magical birds, and he and daddy had gone to learn their spell so Gohan could be born safely. “It’s why I have to wear my wristbands. So I’ll be safe, until I get bigger.” He said, fiddling with said band as he did so.

Goku’s grip on his arm tightened a bit more. “Yea… But you’re a big boy Gohan. You’re… So smart.” He had to close his eye for a moment to focus. “If I take off your wristbands, you’ll get strong. Very, very strong. But!” Goku opened his eye again and stared at his son, trying to get the severity of his next warning across. “You can’t lose control of it. You have to keep it suppressed, and only use as much as you need to take down Dodoria and get us out of here. You absolutely can’t let go. Do you understand?”

Frightened by his daddy’s hard voice, Gohan tried to pull free, albeit still careful of his daddy’s bleeding fingers. “B-but it’s scary! I wanna wait for papa! Please daddy.”

“We can’t.” Goku hissed out through his teeth as he tried to lift himself up. “Papa won’t make it, and I’m too wounded to fight anymore. It has to be you—they won’t be expecting that.” It was a crazy plan, one made in desperation, and not one Goku wanted to use. If Gohan lost control, the power burn would fry his brain at best and kill him at worst. It was a terrible risk to take, but the alternative was letting both his children die, so Goku had no choice. Dragon balls or not, he didn’t want to let his sons experience something as horrible as death.

“But I don’t know how…” Gohan sniffled. He wanted to help, but he was so scared.

By now, Goku had managed to prop himself up against the wall. He could only lean against it with his shoulder to not cause himself further pain. He couldn’t feel his back anymore; the burns had made it numb. The skin and some of the muscle back there was probably dead. The short move made him shake from exhaustion. “Yes you do. It’s just like flying, or gathering energy for a shot. You remember we just started training that?”

Gohan nodded, but didn’t understand. Shooting after targets his daddy threw for him was a game—how would it help? Was he… Was he supposed to shoot _people_?

“Gohan…” Goku reached for him, and the little boy quickly crawled closer. Very carefully Goku pulled him in until he could lean against Goku’s belly, the only place he wasn’t wounded. “You know how to keep control. You just have to remember, even when Dodoria comes back—even when you get angry or scared. Otherwise you will hurt yourself, and maybe me and your brother too.” Goku’s words, though gently spoken, made Gohan shiver and whine. There was no more time to coddle his son though. Either he did this or they were all dead. Goku pushed him back and gripped his arm. “I’m taking them off. As soon as Dodoria comes in, you will kill him. Aim for his head or neck. He needs to be taken out before he can call anyone.”

“K-kill? I don’t understand—“

“It’s like our games. You aim for weak spots, and your opponent stops moving. Except now were doing it for real.” Goku knew he had taught his son how to do this, and he had done so hoping that Gohan would never need to, but now that time had come.

When Gohan just looked at him with wide and scared eyes, Goku gripped his shoulder and shook him. He didn’t want to do this, to say this, but— “He hurt me, Gohan. You have to do this, or he will hurt me again.”

“I…” At those words, something in Gohan’s expression slowly changed. The fear melted away, only to be replaced with something darker and much closer to rage. It transformed Gohan’s features, until Goku felt he was no longer looking at his son—but at Vegeta. “I _won’t let him_.” Gohan growled.

It took Goku a moment to find his voice again. He had to swallow before speaking. “…Okay. Be ready then. Keep your energy just as it is now, until he opens the door.”

Gohan nodded seriously, and before he could second-guess himself anymore, Goku took hold of his son’s power suppressers and ripped them off one by one.

There was no immediate effect. But then, slowly, Gohan started shaking and his cheeks flushed, almost like he had a fever. His eyes grew round and started glassing over. “Daddy—I – I can’t it’s too—“

“Shh, you can. Listen to my heartbeat. You feel it? Good, breathe with me.” Goku coached, while trying to keep himself calm. If this didn’t work, then he might have just killed his son himself.

It took a while, but with Goku’s gentle coaxing, Gohan’s breathing soon evened out and he stopped flushing. He still stayed hot to the touch, which worried Goku. The little boy had also fallen strangely silent, and his eyes were deep, dark and focused. Too sharp to belong to a child.

While Gohan watched the door and waited, already crouched for attack, Goku took stock of his own body. The serum was working. Slowly but surely, Goku was beginning to be able to move. Whatever that stuff was it was more effective than the emergency injections the Coalition had. Not enough to heal, but enough to keep you going. Either that or his body was so hurt that it was shutting down and Goku was too out of it to notice. He wasn’t sure, and that scared him. But despite the cramps still wracking his body, Goku thought he might be able to walk, albeit slowly. And that was the most important thing right now.

The room they were in was really cold, almost freezing. Actually, it might be some sort of freezer. It certainly looked like one. Goku’s breath condensed into white clouds in front of his face as he tried to focus on the outside. He needed to know when to move too.

When the door finally creaked open, things moved fast.

Gohan launched off with a snarl, and Dodoria stumbled back, unprepared to have a feral saiyan cub drive for his face. More snarls were heard as they fell out of sight, a bump, a strangled yell and then a flash of ki.

Goku didn’t see what happened, he hadn’t been able to move fast enough, but when he stumbled into the hall he immediately spotted Dodoria. The man was slumped against the opposite wall, head at an unnatural angle and chest hollowed out by a ki shot. It was hard to say which had done him in, but he was definitely dead. Goku stared for a moment. That was his son’s first kill, and rather than disgust, Goku felt a strange sense of pride. Yet there was also loss. His little boy was no longer just an innocent child—he was a warrior, a killer. 

Meanwhile Gohan had no patience to linger. “Hurry daddy.” He said, eyes already focused and scanning the rest of the hall. It looked like Dodoria had come alone though. 

Shaken from his sentiments by Gohan’s voice, Goku gathered his scattered thoughts and tried to focus on what came next. Why was it so hard to focus? They needed to get out, to get a ship, but also… Goku had already turned to leave, when he spotted Dodoria’s scouter. It was a different model than the Coalition used, but after a second of hesitation, Goku limped over to the body and took it anyway, then put it on. It wasn’t customized for his head shape, but luckily it fit over the side of his face that Frieza hadn’t mutilated. Goku found the ship layout on it and then left it alone. He nodded in the direction they needed to go, and then started following his son, who was stalking through the shadows a few feet ahead.

Goku had to lean against the walls as he stumbled along, and he left bloody marks in his wake. His heart was pounding, and he was unable to calm it. He was shaking from pain and fear, panic welling for every corner they turned, scared that they wouldn’t make it to the hanger. He had to keep going though, he couldn’t fail again. This time, they _had_ to make it out, or it would all be over.

“Daddy, stop.” Gohan ordered, and something in his voice caused Goku to immediately do as told. It took Goku a moment to figure out what his son had noticed, but despite his thoughts being increasingly harder to catch, he managed to recognize that there were a few soldiers ahead of them, around the next corner. Exhausted, Goku leaned heavily against the wall as he searched the scouter’s floor plan for another way. “We… We can go left instead.” It was slower, but— “Gohan, no—!”

Goku’s call came too late. Gohan had already rounded the corner, fangs bared and energy shots ready. Heart lodged in his throat, Goku followed, almost falling. No, no, _no!_ Gohan was just a little boy, he couldn’t take three people at the same time!

Except, apparently he could. When Goku rounded the corner, the soldiers were lying on the floor, all dead, and Gohan was standing between their bodies, an almost impatient look on his face. “ _Hurry_ daddy.”

“I—Okay…” Goku responded , voice tinged with shock. He glanced at the bodies as he moved past them, and noted that they had all been taken out by a single shot. His son had done this? Really?

It was almost like it wasn’t Gohan, but some other… Entity, who was moving his son’s body. Goku didn’t like it. He didn’t like how it made his son move like a predator, how it made his eyes look dark, flat and dangerous. It was too different from the shy but happy and easily laughing little boy he knew.

There was no time to dwell on it though. They were coming up on the hanger, and there were more people inside it. Frieza’s ship wasn’t as big as the pirates’ had been, and the hanger wasn’t as huge either. Goku just hoped there would be something he was able to pilot inside. “Gohan, wait.” He ordered when the gleam in his son’s eyes made it look like he was going to go ‘take care’ of their next problem too. Reluctantly, Gohan stopped and looked up at Goku, waiting for his next orders.

Goku ignored the eeriness of that for now and chose to focus on what he could see of the hanger instead.

For a moment, Goku’s heart lodged in his throat. There were no fighter class ships, and no cargo class either. In fact, it looked like there were _no ships at all_. Goku’s breath stuttered and he fought off a wave of panic and nausea. No, it couldn’t end like this.

“…Daddy?”

Gohan’s voice, sounding close to normal, made Goku take a deep breath and look again. He tried to think. Every ship had escape pods, and some of those were usually installed close to the hanger too. He just had to find them.

After a moment of searching, Goku spotted the sign. Slowly, he licked his cracked lips. His mouth tasted of blood and lingering bile. “Okay Gohan. There are four people in the hanger, and you need to take them out, _without_ killing them.”

Gohan frowned at that, but then after a moment, he ever so slowly nodded.

“It’s important. Don’t kill them. We need them to get away.” Goku reiterated. Escape pods had the, in this case, very fatal flaw that they alerted the mothership to takeoff and sent out an automated distress call. With a simple scan, the mothership or any other close by vessel would be able to see how many people were on board. Goku could not risk that.

As soon as Gohan entered the hanger, Goku felt a lump form in his throat. What if these soldiers were stronger, better trained? If Gohan couldn’t do it, Goku wouldn’t be able to help.

It didn’t take long before Gohan called for him again though, and luckily it looked like he had listened to Goku’s orders. The soldiers were out cold, but alive. Assuming that they were guards, they probably had a check in schedule, and since Goku didn’t know when that was, he needed to move fast.

Unfortunately, moving fast was not an option for his body right now. With a hiss, Goku was forced to lean against the wall again, another vicious cramp rocking his body. It ran all the way around his waist and turned the muscles in his belly hard as stone. It felt like… Goku paled. “… _No_. Not now, please.” But even though the cramp slowly let up, there was no doubt. It was a contraction.

Panting and with panic causing through his blood, Goku turned to his son. “Take their scouters, and then stuff two of them in each escape pod. We will take a third.” He ordered, as he opened the hatch to the emergency room with shaking hands.

He could hear Gohan dragging the bodies of the fallen soldiers over the threshold behind him, but Goku didn’t have time to look. The lack of nails on his hands, and the fact that two of his fingers were broken, made it hurt every time he touched something. He ignored the painful raw feeling though, and continued pulling out panels of the escape pods and ripping apart delicate systems, one wire and fuse at a time. No communication, and no distress call. Possibly he was breaking other things, but Goku didn’t know enough about the model to be sure, and he had no one to ask. Once more he thought of Raditz, and had to force down tears. Not now, not yet—focus.

Gohan pulled on his pants. “Daddy, I got them in, now what?”

Before he could answer, alarms started blaring through the ships, and Goku dropped the panel he had been fumbling with. Face pale, he stared up at the ceiling, as if he could see the bridge through it and the people up there no doubt running to prevent his escape. “…Now we leave, get in.”

Goku pressed the eject buttons for the two other pods, and the countdown started. Then he limped to their own pod, where Gohan was already waiting. Another contraction hit him just as he crawled in, and caused him to slump in the seat with a pained hiss. “Gohan… sho… shoot towards the hanger. Make it powerful.”

Some fear was starting to claw its way back into Gohan’s expression, but he did as told. He leaned out of the pod and fired a blast, and moments later, Goku could smell smoke and melting plastic. “Hatch close.” Goku ordered, as soon as Gohan was back inside. “Take off.”

 _“Takeoff confirmed, in five, four, three—“_ A female automated voice informed them.

Goku pulled Gohan closer and gritted his teeth as the pod started shaking. Two seconds later, they were ejected into space, pod rolling sickeningly, spinning and tumbling through the darkness.

Finally, they were free. They had made it—Goku could rest.

 _“Hailing functions inaccessible. Please input coordinates. If not, pod will automatically head for nearest base or friendly ship.”_ The AI told them some indeterminable time later.

 _‘Oh no you don’t_. Goku thought, as he fought through his exhaustion and brought up the control screen. Carefully, but slow due to his bleary vision and shaking hands, Goku plodded in the codes he knew for Vegeta’s main ship.

“ _Coordinates denied. Cannot comply with directing to enemy ship. Trying to hail mothership…. Hailing failed._ _Hailing functions inaccessible. Please input coordina—“_

“Damnit!” Goku cursed, as he slumped back in the seat. He was so tired. All he wanted was sleep. He needed to put in coordinates, but… He breathed heavily for a moment, then even more so when another contraction hit. “Nngh…” They were growing closer, fast. It didn’t feel normal.

Gohan was silent and pale next to him, and watching him with round scared eyes.

Suddenly, the pod shook violently. The lights flickered and moments later, Goku caught the smell of smoke.  

 _“We are under attack. Shields damaged. Automatic lock on nearest hospitable planet engaged. Escape procedure in five, four—“_ The pod shook again, _“—now.”_  

Thinking that he had to override it, Goku looked at the screen, only for a mirthless laugh to bubble past his bloody lips. Earth. Of course, nearest planet with a breathable atmosphere and water. Just how far had they moved while on the enemy ships, both the pirates’ and Frieza’s? The game of cat and mouse had led them almost back to their starting point.

The pod vibrated when another shot passed close by, but it didn’t hit them.  

It seemed like Frieza’s ship was shooting at them. Goku should have expected that. Of course Frieza would just take out all the pods instead of worrying about which ones were his men and which was Goku’s. Luckily, there had been no direct hits.

It was getting harder to breathe. At first Goku thought that it was just him, that it was because of his injuries. But then he realized that Gohan was coughing too. Goku wasn’t sure when, but he had closed his remaining eye from exhaustion at one point, adrenaline crashing and leaving him shaky and close to passing out. When he opened it again, it had grown darker in the cockpit.

Two masks suddenly fell from the ceiling.  

_“Life support compromised. Please put on oxygen tube. Going to warp two.”_

Goku wasted no time. He quickly put a mask on Gohan, but when he gripped for his own, he didn’t put it on. He only held it against his face as he focused on his stolen scouter instead. There was something important he had been forgetting, too focused on getting away. It was hard to think.  

It had been a long time since he had to remember the exact frequency and the right code, the call automated on his personal scouter, but he did it. With bated breath, he waited to see if it would go through.

“This is a Coalition ship, your ID is unknown. Identify yourself.”

Goku opened his mouth, but immediately coughed. The smoke tasted like burned plastic and bitter metals. “V-Vegeta… Give me…”

Something scrambled on the other line. The officer who had taken the call was calling for Vegeta. Moments later, his mate’s voice sounded in Goku’s ear, pitched from fear but real and _there_. “Kakarot?!”

“Yea…” Goku coughed again, then whined when it felt like the cough threw him directly into a contraction. It had only been a minute since the last. This was bad. The cabin was also growing dark from smoke and it was getting hard to see.

“What happened, where are you?! Are you safe?!”

“Line… Not safe…” Goku mumbled. It was a stolen scouter, so Frieza might be listening in. Goku couldn’t directly say where he was going. He pressed the oxygen mask against his mouth for a moment to regain his air. “Can’t turn… ship. I’m going back. Where we met.” He coughed again, and something in his belly gave. Wet strained his thighs. “Life support is giving out, but I think… I think we’ll get there. Gohan will.”

As for himself, Goku wasn’t so sure. Aside from his injuries and blood-loss, something was going wrong with his baby. He could feel it— something was _wrong_.

“You’ll make it. I’m right behind you Kakarot.” Vegeta sounded shaky and incredibly relived. “How did you even—? It doesn’t matter. I’m coming for you. Just hold on.” There was also still a strong note of desperation.

With waning strength, Goku lifted a hand and placed it on his belly. The ki of his child was flaring—struggling. Goku’s eyesight was pretty much gone. He had to put on the mask. “Ve… Geta…” He coughed dryly, and the line crackled. “I’m sorry. I never meant for this I—I’m sorry I couldn’t—“ He coughed again, and took a deep breath from the mask, then let the words fall. “I love you.”

“…Kakarot—“ The line crackled with static, Vegeta’s response, whatever it was, disappearing. “—rot—ear me?”

The call was unsustainable while in warp speed, and was cutting out. As Goku put the oxygen mask on, the scouter accidentally slipped from his face, but he didn’t have the strength to pick it up.

Vegeta’s voice kept calling his name from the floor, only broken pieces getting through.

Goku closed his eye.

Another contraction tore through his broken body, this one urging him to _push_.

But he had no energy left. Everything hurt, and he could feel how new blood kept flowing out and straining his thighs.   

Tethering on the brink of unconsciousness, Goku continued hurtling through space at several times light speed, Gohan right next to him, his small tail wrapped around Goku’s wrist.

However close Earth was, Goku knew that for him, it was probably still too far.         

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this whole entire chapter, but I got tired of rewriting it. So.   
> Yes, this was always going to happen. But no, it was not as easy to write as I had planned, and I'm not sure how well I managed. -_-   
> I hope you liked it better than me.


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which no one has a good day.

Everything was dark.

Faintly, on the edge of his bleary consciousness, Goku could sense vibrations—shaking. There was a scent of smoke, an almost overpowering odor of blood and… Salt?

“Daddy, wake up!”

Oh, _tears_. Also fear sweat. The pungent smells coated his swollen tongue and burned in his nose. He tried to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth, but he couldn’t. He felt lethargic, too tired to move, too exhausted to speak. Cold. He was shivering.  

_“Entering atmosphere. Emergency landing procedure engaged. Please prepare for impact.”_ The static voice of the pod’s AI informed them.   

Goku slipped away again as the shaking grew worse. He never felt the impact of their landing. When he opened his remaining eye again, he was blinded by light. His head hurt, like a knife stabbing his skull. He hardly noticed though. At this point everything hurt, what was one more pain?

It took him a while to adjust to the light. He could still smell smoke, but it was fainter. The air was fresh. He still coughed when he tried to breathe though. Confused, Goku stared straight ahead, seeing nothing but blue.

“Daddy, daddy?!”

Gohan appeared above him, tears in his eyes, power surging so high that Goku could feel his ki like static electricity against his own clammy skin. Goku realized that he was lying on his back, outside. Had Gohan dragged him out of the pod?

This was bad. Goku couldn’t remember. He was losing time, couldn’t focus and couldn’t feel his limbs. Meanwhile, Gohan was close to losing control.  

Once more, Goku tried to speak. “Go… Gohan. Calm—“ The words stuck in his throat and Goku coughed again. The cough wracking his body caused his chest and stomach to tighten and Goku cried out when sharp pain laced through him. Once more he felt wet warmth pooling under his body, around his thighs. The air grew heavy with the smell of fresh blood, dull and coppery.

Goku panted harshly, breathing labored, as he slumped back against the rough ground. He knew he had lost too much blood, too much fluid. He had been given barely any water to drink while captive, and then the burns… and the puking from getting whipped. His eyes, his ear, his—his baby. Oh god, his baby!

Goku couldn’t feel his youngest child’s energy anymore.

This was what finally made him sob—a long keening whine of despair. No. No please. Not his child.

Suddenly Gohan’s cries turned into a furious snarl. That was all which alerted Goku to the new presence. Gohan crouched over his mother and growled—low, deep and dangerous.

Soft footsteps grew closer. “You’re wasting your time brat. He’s too far gone.”

That voice… It was familiar, but not comforting. With a terrible effort, Goku turned his head enough to look at the newcomer. Despite his blurry vision, Goku recognized him immediately. The green skin made that easy. “Piccolo…” He breathed.  

The demon didn’t come closer. He watched Goku coolly, but with a faint frown pulling his mouth down. “You’re a mess. Who on Earth managed to do this to you?” Piccolo wondered. Goku was scarily strong, his ki alone had made Piccolo shake when he met him on Roshi’s island just a few days ago. Now his ki was practically gone, he was broken and close to death, covered in wounds, and not ones that looked like they came from battle. If there was someone out there who could do _this_ —

“Piccolo, please.” Goku implored, voice a mere whisper. At this point, he didn’t care who he begged, enemy or not. If there was even the slightest chance that his baby could still make it, then he had no choice. “My child—Save him. Get him out.”   

“Out?” Piccolo repeated, and let his eyes glide down Goku’s body, to his swollen belly. “Ah. _Out_ , I see.” He looked back at Goku, face unreadable. “I have no reason to help you, in fact I have every reason not to. But, still…” He crossed his arms and smirked. “You tore a hole through my father, and then I was born. There’s a strange poetry to returning the favor.”

Quite frankly, Goku didn’t care what Piccolo’s motivation was, as long as he did it. With a shuddering sigh, Goku turned his head to his son. “Gohan. Let him through.” He ground out, strength seeping out for every word.

“No, he’ll hurt you!” Gohan cried out, eyes wide and flacking wildly between Piccolo and his mother.

“He has to… To save your brother.” Goku explained, wincing as a contraction tore through him. He gasped and his head lolled back, his strings cut for a moment as he tried to breathe through the pain. “Y-you have to… Close your eyes.” Goku rasped, voice weak. “Don’t look.”

“Daddy! No!” Gohan bawled.

Goku turned his head again, vision hazy; he was slipping from the pain. He stared at Piccolo, putting all his remaining strength and willpower behind the look.  “Do it.” He ordered, voice weak but firm. “There’s no time, hurry.”

 

“You’ll die.” Piccolo told him blandly, as if Goku wasn’t already terribly aware of this.

“I’ll die anyway, there’s no time.” Goku repeated. Wherever his friends were, they wouldn’t get here fast enough. They wouldn’t make it, and neither would he. Goku couldn’t risk it. “Save him, please.”

“Hnf. Fine, call off your guard dog then.” Piccolo said as he came closer and kneeled down next to Goku’s broken form. Even though he would never admit it, Piccolo tried not to focus too much on his nemesis’ face, on the mangled oozing eye socket and the missing ear. It was nauseating, even for him. Of course, what he was about to do now would be too.

Piccolo flexed his long sharp claws and eyed the stretched and bruised skin before him. He felt barely any energy underneath; the child was clearly almost as close to death as its parent. Piccolo didn’t voice this though. Instead he put his claws against the top of Goku’s belly and shot a quick glance at him. “This will hurt.” He found himself warning. “You’ll die within minutes. Say your goodbyes.”

With a weak but grateful smile, Goku’s head rolled until he could see Gohan again. The little boy was pale and staring at where Piccolo’s claws rested against his mother’s belly, like sharp knifes waiting to cut and tear. A silent threat.

“Gohan, look at me. Don’t look there, focus on me.” Goku implored him, until Gohan slowly pulled his eyes away and stared at Goku instead.

“Daddy…” He whispered, voice small and breaking.

“That’s it, j-just look at me.” Goku said, voice shaking as he felt Piccolo’s claws bite into his skin. He gasped, but kept looking at his son. “I-it’ll be okay. It’ll be o-okay…” He choked out, as his vision clouded over. Piccolo continued, and Goku tried to keep looking at Gohan, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t abstract from the pain. He felt so terribly cold… Strings cut, Goku’s head rolled back, until he was staring up at the sky—the blue, blue sky.

Just like his father’s vision.

Goku realized then, that he hadn’t changed anything. This time he hadn’t averted fate. Even so, there was a pyrrhic victory in it. His children would live. Gohan would live… He had to think his baby would too.    

“It’ll be okay…” Goku whispered to himself, no sound passing his lips, as the blue heaven and the white clouds reflected in his glassy eye.

Gohan saw it. He saw the moment something in his daddy went out and disappeared. Like a candle flame being snuffed out by a cold wind. He didn’t understand how, but even though his daddy was right there, he was—he was gone.

His eye was open, but blank and unseeing. Lifeless.    

Sniffling, tears welling out and dripping down on his mother’s corpse pale skin, Gohan pulled himself closer to Goku’s slack face. “I’m looking at you daddy. I’m looking—I’m looking so _please_.” He sobbed as he leaned over his mother and curled his small fists against his chest. “Don’t go. Don’t—“ He choked on the last word and bent over, the rest devolving into a wail as he hid his face against Goku’s still chest. He screamed. He screamed and screamed, until his throat was tearing.

Gohan screamed to block out the sound of flesh tearing, of organs spilling and a sick wet pull as Piccolo pulled out the baby from Goku’s slashed womb. His screams almost blocked out Piccolo’s soft curse, but they couldn’t hide the overpowering smell of blood, viscera and bile from ruptured innards.

His brother was born. But the baby made no sound.

 

xXx

 

Vegeta fell to his knees with a gasp. Cold laced through him, shooting out from the spot between his neck and shoulder and through his body. Like frigid water running through his veins and turning warm lifeblood to ice.

“Prince Vegeta?!” A startled officer cried out, drawing attention from the rest of the crew to their prince’s sudden collapse.

Vegeta stared unseeingly straight ahead as he gasped and clasped his neck—his hand landed right over the faint scar of his mating bite. It burned, not like fire, but a frost bite. “Wha-what?” He stuttered, eyes wide.

What was this chilling dreadful feeling spreading in his chest? It was like drowning. Like being held under water and knowing that you couldn’t reach the surface in time. Like something vital had been pulled away from him, leaving him frozen.

For a moment, Vegeta thought he saw a bright sun being covered by grey clouds, until it was snuffed out. The sun, gone. Even though it had just been so warm and kind, just like… “Kakarot—“ Vegeta choked out. His mate’s ki had always felt like sunlight to him.

Shaking and with thoughts whirling through his head, Vegeta hardly noticed when an older saiyan soldier kneeled next to him. “…It’s your mating bite, isn’t it?” The man asked quietly, voice knowing.

Vegeta turned to stare at him, and was caught by the deep sadness he found in the man’s eyes. “Wh-what’s happening?” Vegeta demanded to know, voice hoarse.

“It feels cold, doesn’t it.” The man said, rather than asked. His gaze turned inwards, like he was viewing a faraway memory. “It’s like all the warmth in the world is ripped away from you. I felt that too, when my mate died. We were miles apart, but I still knew instantly.” He focused again, eyes locking with Vegeta’s. “I’m sorry Prince Vegeta.”

“No.” Vegeta growled lowly, eyes narrowing and lips pulling back in a snarl. “Magical bonds and mental links. It’s all nonsense. The bite triggers certain hormones, and a center in the brain. It’s not—it doesn’t work like that. It _doesn’t_.” He insisted. He had heard the stories, of course. But he refused to believe them. He couldn’t. Not now. “Kakarot is alive. I just talked to him. He got away! He’s alive.”

He had to be.

They were only a few hours away from Earth. Vegeta was _so close_ to being reunited with his mate and children. That wouldn’t fail, it couldn’t. Not after everything. For the first time in his life, Vegeta begged gods that he hardly believed in not to be so cruel. He couldn’t lose this—it would break him.  

The soldier lowered his head and respectfully pulled back. The bridge was completely silent. Everyone’s eyes were on Vegeta, who was still sitting on his knees, panting and shaking, hand clasped to his shoulder. “He’s alive.” Vegeta repeated as he stared out of the window, at the white stars streaking by.

If not, then Vegeta didn’t know what he would do.

 

xXx

 

“Shit.” Piccolo spat as he pulled out the blue-skinned and blood covered infant. It wasn’t moving, and the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around its neck. The older boy was screaming, but Piccolo ignored it as he wiggled a gory claw underneath the slimy organic cord and cut. It was faster than unwrapping it. The babe still didn’t move, didn’t breathe, even when the noose came free and fell away. It looked like it was too late.

Somehow, this pissed Piccolo off immensely. “Oh no you don’t.” He growled and bent over the baby, until he covered its lower face with his mouth. Piccolo ignored the taste of blood and exhaled, forcing air into the child’s still lungs and causing its tiny chest to expand. Then he repeated the action.

He wasn’t sure what possessed him to do it, why he was fighting to keep his nemesis’ child alive, or rather, to breathe life back into it. But he didn’t stop.

Even so, part of him still expected the tiny body in his arms to grow colder, to lose that last flicker of life and turn into a corpse like its parent.

But that wasn’t what happened.

A pulse, frail and barely there, flared up. An unmistakable ember of ki. Like kindling being blown into a flame.

Piccolo finally pulled back and stared down at the child in his arms. He licked the blood from his lips and watched as the babe took its first shuddering gasp, its tiny frail chest expanding on its own. It was too small and too weak to cry, but it was breathing. It was alive.

For a long moment, Piccolo simply gazed down at the infant, some strange and unknown feeling filling his chest. Then he shook his head and forced it down as he felt other energy signatures approaching.

Less than a minute later, the small bald one and the saiyan who had stayed, landed at the top of the crater which had been made by the landing pod. Both men stared down at the bottom of the hole, all color draining from their faces at the sight that met them.

“Oh god—“ Krillin choked, and then, when the smell hit him, turned around and immediately threw up.

Meanwhile, Tarble took a stumbling step forwards and almost rolled down the side of the crater, eyes fixed on the bloodbath before him, unable to look away. “What did you do?” He asked, voice weak from horror, but clearly speaking to Piccolo.

“He showed up like that.” Piccolo quickly defended himself, knowing that he couldn’t take a saiyan in a fight. “I cut out the child to stop it from dying—he asked me to, with his last breath.”

Tarble sunk to his knees next to his wailing nephew and put a shaking hand between his small shoulders. “How? Who—Who did this?”

Goku had been going home, back to safety. What about Raditz? Tarble forced himself to look away from Goku’s mangled corpse and look around, but found no sight of his friend. Where was he? Was… Was he dead too?

Shit. Why hadn’t Tarble known? No one had called him, he had had no idea that his family was in danger.

…Did Vegeta know?

“Snap out of it!” Piccolo ordered, and gestured towards the top of the crater, up at Krillin. “Get a senzu, if he has any. Fast!”

This snapped Tarble out of it, and he forced his mind back on track. Don’t focus on the blood, don’t focus on the gore or his dead brother in law. The children were still alive.

For the first time, Tarble looked at his newest nephew, and amended that statement. The children were still alive, _for now_. The baby looked blue, and its breathing was weak. It wasn’t moving, just hanging limply in Piccolo’s arms.

Panic swelled up in Tarble chest and lodged in his throat. He whipped around. “Krillin! Senzu, hurry!” He yelled, despite not knowing what it was. He could only assume it would help though.  

Reluctantly, Krillin appeared at the top of the crater and then slid down the side. He was still completely white and tears were streaming down his cheeks. “H-here.” He said when he reached the bottom, and handed a small green bean to Piccolo with shaking hands. His eyes kept straying to the mangled corpse of his best friend.

Piccolo snatched the bean and, surprisingly, stuffed it in his own mouth. He chewed it for a moment, then spat the paste back out in his palm. Using one finger, he scooped some up and then pressed it into the baby’s partially open mouth. “Here kid, come on, swallow damnit.”

It took some coaxing, but finally, the baby managed to swallow a bit. The effect was almost instant. Its skin color evened back out and turned a healthy pink beneath the blood, and its eyes opened. The little boy drew in a big gulp of air, blinked, and then let out an ear splitting wail.

Almost at the same time, it was like the air around them shimmered. Just a second later, Goku’s body was gone.

Tarble fell backwards in fright, eyes wide as saucers and stuck on the place where his brother in law’s corpse had just disappeared. The blood was still there, soaked into the dark ground, but otherwise everything was gone. “What?” Tarble said, voice trembling. “ _What_?!”

“Tch. Kami.” Piccolo mumbled with a short glare towards the sky. The child kept wailing in his arms, probably cold and confused with the lack of its mother’s heartbeat and warmth.

“It’s—It’s okay Tarble.” Krillin said as he put a still trembling hand on the saiyan’s shoulder. He swallowed heavily to get rid of the taste of bile. “I bet kami took Goku’s body to repair it. We can—he’ll come back. We have the dragon balls, remember?” _He_ certainly needed to remember right now. Maybe after they brought Goku back, Krillin would make a wish to forget what he had just seen.

Tarble didn’t respond right away. Instead his face grew taut and he looked between his crying nephews. “Not for another year, we don’t…”  

A whole year.

Krillin looked between the children, and his eyebrows flew up when he finally saw the problem. “Oh, no.” Their dad was gone, and he wouldn’t be back, not for a long time. The baby would be big by that time— it wouldn’t even remember Goku, even though he had just died to save it. 

Fists clenching, Krillin looked down and gritted his teeth as shame filled him. If only he had flown faster. Then Goku wouldn’t have had to die. He could have lived, he could have held his youngest son. He might not have been completely whole, since Krillin wasn’t sure how much a senzu bean could regenerate, and some things had seemed to be… Missing. But he would have been alive. These days Krillin always carried a couple of senzu on his person. Call him paranoid, but since their run in with Vegeta, it had seemed prudent. He could have saved his friend _and_ the baby, but he—

He hadn’t been fast enough.

The sound of a helicopter came from overhead, and Piccolo looked up in time to see Bulma make one of her infamous hazarded landings. As soon as her machine was shut off, she stumbled out and ran. Moments later she appeared at the top of the crater, her chest heaving from labored breaths. She cast her gaze around, noting the blood, and the children—holy shit was that a baby?—and how miserable both Krillin and Tarble looked. “Where’s Goku?” She panted, as she crouched down and started scooting down the side of the crater.

“He…” Krillin shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. His voice trembled. “He didn’t make it. His body disappeared just moments ago—Kami’s work.”

“Didn’t make it?” Bulma repeated disbelievingly. When the guys had suddenly tensed up back at Capsule Corp. and then shot off while yelling about Goku and low ki, Bulma had assumed that something might be wrong. But not _this_ wrong. “What happened? Did he crash? Was that why—“

“We don’t know.” Tarble broke her off to say, his face haunted. He was still rubbing between Gohan’s shoulder blades, trying to calm the little boy down, despite not having much success. “He looked… He was already dead when Krillin and I got here, but he looked heavily wounded, and not from the landing. Someone…” He cut himself off, words sticking in his throat like glass shards. He hated to even consider it, but there had been little mistaking in some of those wounds. Tarble recognized marks from whipping when he saw them. “I think someone tortured him.” He admitted faintly.

“Torture?!” Both Bulma and Krillin exclaimed, in equally horrified voices.

“That seems likely.” Piccolo interjected, finally calling attention to himself again. “He was already close to death when I arrived.” Which he had been the first to do, since he had been closer. “Now would someone take this already?” He asked, as he held out the infant, who was squealing in his blood cowered claws.

Bulma zeroed in on the child with an almost scary focus, something in her expression changing when mammalian instincts to protect young finally kicked in. Tarble was still faster though.

Seconds later he had snatched his nephew from Piccolo and as cradling him close to his chest, while shushing him and rumbling reassuringly. A warning glare sent around at the others told them that they had better not get too close. Tarble had just lost a family member, and everything still smelled overwhelmingly like blood, fear and pain. He knew, logically, that Bulma would never harm the children, but his instincts weren’t as convinced. Only the shock from seeing Goku had kept Tarble from snatching the child from Piccolo right away.

He was a saiyan. Tarble had grown up during war time, and this was not the first time he saw death. It was just the first time it was so personal. Still, used to it or not, if he hadn’t known that Goku could be brought back, Tarble wasn’t sure how he would have reacted.

Tarble moved back, and after shifting his youngest nephew to one arm, he picked Gohan up with the other and pulled the boy close to his chest, until the toddler could rest on his hip. Then Tarble stood up and looked at his companions. He finally regained some of his sense when he caught the nervous looks on their faces. Normally he would have been embarrassed, but his brother in law had just died—Tarble wasn’t in a state to care.  “Sorry.” He still managed to say, then let out a deep breath. Both Gohan and the baby were crying faintly in his arms, though they seemed to be tiring out. “My instincts are a mess right now. Just give me a moment while we fly back.”

“Uh, sure.” Krillin said. “But are we… Are we just flying back to Capsule Corp? Just like that?”

“There’s not much else we _can_ do.” Tarble responded, shoulders slumped. He looked around at the crater, at the blood and the debris from the pod. There was no reason to stay here, and Tarble had no desire to. He just wanted to get away from that horrible smell, and then hopefully succeed in calming his nephews down. Gohan was hot to the touch, and his skin felt clammy. Aside from some bruises, he didn’t look injured from what Tarble could see, but he was definitely traumatized, and staying where his mother had just died would not help.

“Tarble’s right.” Bulma said as she got up. Despite the tears in her eyes, she was quick to snap into a practical mode after years of danger filled adventures. “Right now we can’t help Goku, but we can take care of his children until we get a hold of their father.”

Tarble winced at her words. The mere idea of telling his brother what had happened made Tarble shiver from dread. Even if he handed the news to Vegeta with a ready fix available, he still wasn’t sure what his older brother would do. Vegeta had never been particularly stable in the first place, but he had gotten better after mating with Goku. Learning what had happened to his mate though… It wouldn’t be pretty.

 

xXx

 

Goku opened his eyes and blinked. Then he blinked again. Slowly, he raised a hand and shakily touched his face, right below his right eye. “It—it’s there?” He breathed. Quickly he moved his hand and found his ear too. “How…?”

“Ah, you’re awake Goku.” A kind and calming voice said. “How are you feeling?” The question was a bit more hesitant.

Dizzy and confused, Goku slowly looked up and saw Kami staring down at him with a worried expression. “I’m… There’s no pain.” Goku said, voice shocked. “Why isn’t there…?” He looked down then, down at his own body, only to gasp. Goku’s hands flew to his stomach and clawed at the skin there. The taut, smooth skin covering well defined abdominal muscles. “NO! No, where is he?!? Where—“

“Goku, please calm down.” Wrinkled green hands caught Goku’s own wildly scrabbling ones, and squeezed them reassuringly. “Your son is alive. He lived.”

Still panting and wide-eyed, Goku looked up at Kami again. The old man’s gentle smile faltered at the sight of his pupil’s pale and frightened face. He continued explaining. “….It was touch and go for a while. I waited with retrieving your body until I was certain I wouldn’t need to bring back two. But surprisingly, Piccolo came through. He breathed life back into the boy and fed him a senzu.”

Luckily too. Kami refrained from mentioning it, but if the little boy hadn’t been fed the magical bean, he would have surely died anyway. He had come too early, and he had been starved alongside his mother for days. His body had been too frail, and only the saiyans’ special skill of powering up after near death had saved the little cub. Without that and the senzu, he would have been here with Goku right now.

Goku looked down again, down at his unmarked body and his empty arms. “…I never got to hold him.” He said quietly. “I never even s-saw him.” He added, voice breaking.

Kami’s face fell, and his heart panged. He wished he could have saved Goku, but unfortunately, he could not interfere with life and death. Not in any other way than what he was currently doing. “This is my mistake.” He said, after watching the young saiyan for a moment. “I repaired your body, but your hormonal levels are the same. Your body is convinced you just gave birth—that you need to take care of and nurse a child.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, here, let me fix it.” He reached out a wrinkled hand, intending to do just that, but surprisingly, Goku pulled back with a frightened shout.

“NO!” Goku scrambled back, until his back met a wall. “No, if you do that, then I can’t feed him.” He said, while protectively covering his chest with his hands. He wouldn’t let Kami take away his son’s source of nourishment.

“Goku…” Kami’s outstretched palm fell, and he finally realized that Goku wasn’t operating on all levels. The boy hadn’t noticed where they were— he hadn’t realized his own situation. The shock from his death must have been a lot worse than Kami had feared. Even so, he couldn’t blame the young man. The way he had died had been torturous and brutal.

Kami pressed his lips together for a moment and thought. This would need some finesse, or he might just make things worse. “Try looking around Goku.” He coaxed gently, rather than just telling him what had happened.

With a nervous frown, Goku hesitantly did as told. Tensely, he took in the white and green walls and the yellow tiled floor. From outside the windows and open gateways, a soft golden light shone inside and bathed everything in a warm hue. “This isn’t the lookout.” Goku said after a moment.

“No, this is the doorstep to heaven.” Kami told him, voice as calming as he could make it.

This brought Goku to a stop. His breath stuttered in his lungs, and his heart dropped. “Oh.” He whispered, as he rapidly blinked his wet eyes. “Of course. I—I died.”

It was strange to say. Actually, everything about this moment felt surreal to Goku. His memories from the last hours of his life were choppy, broken up into pieces but all filled with the acute sense of pain, desperation and a strangling all-consuming fear. Yet as he sat here, bathed in golden light, the fragmented memories seemed to slip through his fingers like dark murky water. He felt like he was floating, not like he was actually flying, but an almost drugged haze. His thoughts were scattered and hard to grip.

Goku’s hands fell limply into his lap as he stared out at the yellow clouds. He had fought so hard. So, so hard. And he had made it all the way to Earth, Vegeta only hours behind him, his family so close to being safe and together again.

His escape from Frieza was a hollow victory. Goku had gotten away, had avoided Vegeta’s demise that way and had assured his children’s survival. But Goku himself had died.

“I want to go back.” The words tumbled from Goku’s lips before he could stop them. They were plain, honest and spoken directly from his heart. He just wanted to go back and hold his children.

“I know, and unlike many, you actually get to.” Kami said as he came closer. With carefully slow movements, Kami reached out and gently clasped Goku’s arm, then pulled him up. “For now I have someone I want you to meet though. Come with me please.”

Stiff-limbed and strangely numb, Goku still found himself following Kami inside the inner rooms of the building. Faintly he noticed horned humanoids walking here and there, stacks of papers in their arms, but he hardly payed it any mind. It felt like he was moving in a fog, his knees bending, feet walking and lungs expanding as he breathed, but it was all strangely… Removed from him. It was more like he was watching it happen than actually doing it. Yet, despite noticing this, Goku was scared to break out of it—to try and clear his head. It felt like dark things were lurking just out of sight. Flashes of pain and a cold voice laughing. Goku hadn’t forgotten, he couldn’t, but as long as he just stayed here in the fog, it was like the memories were more distant. Almost bearable.

“Here we are.” Kami said, and held out a hand to stop Goku. It landed against Goku’s chest when the young saiyan took a moment too long to stop walking. “Greetings King Enma. This is the boy I told you about, Son Goku. You might have him written up under the name Kakarot?”

Slowly Goku lifted his head and was met with the sight of a giant red-skinned man seated behind an equally big mahogany desk.

Enma’s bushy dark eyebrows lifted as he looked down on Goku, who was staring up at him with a blank face. “Hmm. So this is the savior of Earth. He looks a bit spaced, Kami.” Enma noticed, before turning his attention to his books. He leafed through them, and soon arrived to the right page. “Ah.” He said, face falling.

After reading just the first few lines under cause of death, Enma understood why Son Goku looked so out of it. “…You said you wanted to send him to King Kai?” Enma asked, as he looked up and gazed searchingly at Kami.

The old man nodded.

“Frankly, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Normally souls who have been… Damaged,” Enma settled on the most delicate word he could find, “is sent to a heaven of healing, until they are ready to rejoin other souls.” He gestured at Goku. “Judging from his file, he definitely needs that.”

Kami looked at Goku, his lips going taut at the sight of his young pupil. Goku was standing on his own power, but was slightly swaying in place, like he was unsteady on his feet. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of ragged grey pants, which hung loosely on his hips. Though all his wounds were gone, his cheeks looked sunken, his ribs were too visible and his skin was sickly pale. He looked gaunt, more like a ghost than a man, and there was something deep and haunted about his glassy eyes.

All in all, there was little resemblance left of the happy boy Kami had once known. But despite that, Kami still shook his head and looked back up at Enma. “Even so, I believe sending him to King Kai will be best. Goku isn’t set to enter heaven yet. He will be brought back to life, and when that happens, it would be prudent that he has some way of _staying_ alive during his next meeting with Frieza.”

Enma frowned. “Frieza…” He repeated, then sighed unhappily and rubbed his brow. That was certainly a name he saw often in his books these days. “You know we are not to interfere with the mortals’ way of life Kami, no matter how bad it gets.”

Kami smiled crookedly, some of his shrewdness shining through. “Oh but it’s not really interfering, is it? King Kai is known to accept and train dead warriors, which Goku certainly is. The fact that Goku will eventually return to the living world is…” Kami shrugged. “Well, it’s out of our hands. Happenstance, really.”

Enma snorted. “You’re a sly one Kami. But fine, do as you please. I can’t say I care much for Frieza and his lot either. They are clogging up my work desk something fierce with all the people they send through.” He paused for a moment, thoughtful. “Though the saiyans aren’t much better.”

“Well, perhaps this will diminish your work load.” Kami said, and then turned back to his old student. “Come along Goku.”

Once more, Goku followed dazedly. He had listened to Kami and Enma’s conversation, but he hadn’t really thought anything about it. He had just let his mind float.

It felt like only seconds had passed when Kami stopped him again. “This is snake road.” Kami explained, as he gestured out towards a long winding path fashioned to look like its namesake. A stone snake twisted above a sea of golden clouds, stretching as far as the eye could see and further still. “Follow it, and you will eventually reach King Kai. He has many things he can teach you—I’m sure you’ll find training under him fruitful.”

“Training?” Goku repeated, voice toneless as he stared out at the sea of clouds. For long moment he simply stood there, completely still as he tried to figure out why that sounded so wrong.

“…Goku?” Kami prompted him, after over a minute had passed by in silence.

“I can’t.” Goku finally said, shaking off some of his daze. “I can’t, I—I have to go back.”

Once more, Kami’s face fell. “With the dragon balls, you mean.”

“Yes.” Goku said, nodding as his head started clearing. His friends would call him back. They had to. He had an infant who needed him. And… Vegeta, his mate also needed him. He had looked so scared and broken when Goku had last seen him. Goku needed to go back to him, fast. He needed to pick up his oldest son and tell him how brave he had been, to comfort him until he stopped crying.

For a moment, Gohan’s terrified screams seemed to ring in Goku’s ears, and he shook his head, as if physically shaking it off. Yes, he needed to go back and hold his sons, both of them at the same time preferably.

Kami’s hand landed gently on Goku’s shoulder, which snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts. Startled, Goku looked up at his old mentor. Kami gazed back at him, dark eyes carrying a deep sadness. “The dragon balls were recently used. By you, in fact, to save your planet.” His hand squeezed Goku’s shoulder. “It will be a full year before they can be used again.”

Goku felt all the blood drain from his face, and he stared back at Kami, mouth falling open and a strangled sound tumbling out. “No…” But it was true. Goku remembered now; he had used the dragon balls. They were inactive. “No.” Goku shook his head and bent over, his ears ringing. It was suddenly hard to breathe. “No, I have to—“ He couldn’t go back. He was stuck here, cut off from his baby, and Gohan and Vegeta. He couldn’t touch them, couldn’t get to them. “No, no, my baby, he was just born, he needs me, he—“

By the time Goku could come back, his youngest would be a whole year old. He would be walking, running and smiling. He would have had his first laugh, and he would have already found his favorite food and plaything. He would be a small person, completely his own, and completely unknown to Goku, who would have missed all of these things.

With a choked sob, Goku fell to his knees and fisted his hair, pulling it to the point of pain when he realized that he didn’t even know his son’s name. He and Vegeta had never agreed on a name, they had planned to wait, to see him first… But Goku hadn’t even gotten to do that.  

He gasped, heart thundering and lodging in his throat as he remembered his last hours. Suddenly, everything was so painfully clear. The cockpit of the escape pod slowly filling with noxious smoke and fumes. Blood running down his thighs and pooling around him. Too much blood. Vegeta’s static voice over the scouter, calling his name again and again. But Goku had been too weak to answer. So tired. He had known he was dying. He had _known_ but…

Kami’s hand rubbed his shaking back, and Goku realized he was crying— sobbing really. Tears streamed down his cheeks and dripped to the yellow tiles, turning them a dark ochre. He gripped his hair harder, pulling and pulling, as if the pain would distract him from reality.

Meanwhile, Kami looked on, defeated. He was stuck in a stalemate. Goku’s body might be healed, but clearly the mental scars…

There was no point in sending him to King Kai like this, but what could they possibly do to fix it?

As Kami searched for an answer, Goku continued to cry; unable to stop his tears as intrusive memories assaulted him.

His choked sobs rang out across the vast sky landscape, hollow and unheard by anyone.

Or so they thought. 

                   

xXx

 

“We’re entering Earth’s atmosphere.”

“Finally.” Vegeta said, gripping the armrests of his chair hard enough that the metal started bending. He stared out at the window, like he had done for hours now, and watched as fire licked against the glass, until finally, they broke through. There were no clouds here, and blue sea stretched before them. “Follow the tracker’s signal, hurry up.” Vegeta yelled, not caring an ounce for the sight.

The ship continued forwards, alone in its pursuit. The rest of the battle cruisers in Vegeta’s fleet stayed in orbit around the blue and green planet, alert and ready for possible attack. Not from Earth, but from space. There was a chance Frieza had followed them.

The minutes seemed to pass more like hours as they flew towards the tracker’s weak signal. Vegeta crossed his arms and tapped his fingers impatiently on his tensed biceps. His jaw was clenched so hard that his teeth were grinding. There was a continuous dull migraine pounding behind his temple, and his vision was spotty from sleep deprivation, but Vegeta ignored it. He was _so close_ —

“There! Quickly, start landing procedure! Hurry!” A helmsman cried out.

The ship shook when it touched down, the landing rushed and clumsy. Still, they made it. “Lower the ramp!” Vegeta ordered, already running for the exit.

Bright sunlight blinded him as soon as the bay doors slid open. Vegeta raised an arm and shielded his eyes from it as he stepped outside. Blue skies, green grass and… The scent of blood on the wind.

“No…” His heartrate doubled, and instead of waiting for his guards or landing team, Vegeta took to the air and shot forwards like an arrow. Land passed below him like a blur, fields and forests transformed to smeared colors.

The crater was easy to spot. It was a mar in the otherwise peaceful landscape, like an open wound, or a maw of jacked teeth. Smoke still faintly rose from it, thin and pale against the clear sky. For a long moment, Vegeta hovered in the air above it, heart lodged in his throat. The tracker’s signal was coming from down there, but he felt no ki. 

Vegeta’s feet made a hollow thump as he landed at the bottom of the crater and looked around. The escape pod was open and the insides were blackened from smoke, yet Vegeta could still easily make out the blood soaked seat. The trail of red continued outside, along with drag marks. Vegeta started shaking as he took in the signs left behind. He was an experienced hunter and tracker—he could see what had happened here. Kakarot had not had the strength to step outside the pod on his own. Someone small, Gohan, had dragged him.

Slowly, Vegeta turned and looked at the spot where the track marks ended, the spot where Kakarot had laid. The ground was soaked through with blood. So much that it still pooled faintly in the dirt’s shallow cracks. It was still fresh—less than an hour old.

Bile bubbled up in Vegeta’s throat when he took a few steps closer and kneeled down. He was instantly hit with the penetrating smells of fear, sharp and panic inducing. It was laced with pain and—“No.” Vegeta shook his head and he fell forward, hands landing on the bloody ground and digging claw-marks. “No!” There was the distinct smell of ruptured guts and something other—something he had last smelled almost four years ago, the first time he became a farther. Ammoniac fluid, and the weak scent of a baby, almost covered by the pervasive stink of blood.

“NO!” Vegeta threw his head back and screamed, his breath hitching once he broke off. He panted harshly, chest heaving. Then he clenched his eyes shut and tried to concentrate. He had to search, if he just focused, then surely he would find—

But it didn’t work. No matter how far out he threw his senses, he could not feel Kakarot’s ki. Not even the faintest flicker. Kakarot wasn’t simply wounded and weak, he was—he was—

With a roar Vegeta fisted his hand and punched it into the ground, hard enough that another big crack appeared. “No! I don’t accept this!!” Vegeta yelled, mind reeling, eyes tingling and burning. “He got away. He—I talked to him. _He got away!_ ”

“Sire……” The voice was low and hesitant.

Vegeta spun around so fast he grew dizzy. He came face to face with a science officer and the rest of his landing crew. They were all standing back and looking hesitant, if not downright scared. Nappa especially was staying clear. His expression was pinched though, and he was tracking Vegeta with his eyes like one would a feral animal.  

The science officer stood slightly in front of the others, and was holding something out in his palm. “It was… It was lying right over there, in the dirt. It must haw fallen off.” He said.

It was the tracker. Vegeta stared at it with blank eyes, vision swimming. “Sc—Scan the area.” Vegeta choked out. “ _Find them_.”

The officer took a step back, face paling. “We already did sire. But…” The man swallowed nervously, shoulders hunching. “With this much blood… Our equipment says he wouldn’t have made it.”

“Then the equipment it _wrong_.” Vegeta insisted as he got up and shook his head, trying to snap out of the haze. The stink of bodily fluids and fear sweat kept assaulting him and made it hard to think. Once more Vegeta closed his eyes and expanded his senses. If Kakarot was too weak to be felt, then there was still—“There, I feel him.” Vegeta said as his head snapped up. “Gohan is that way.” He said, pointing.

His son’s ki was higher than normal, higher than Vegeta had ever felt before. Too high, he thought worriedly. It was unmistakable though, warm and bright like a sunny autumn day with sun-showers; so much like his mother’s.

Wasting no time, Vegeta took off again, fully expecting his team to follow.

He shot through the air, leaving nothing but a sonic boom behind as he rushed towards his son. Wherever Gohan was, Kakarot had to be too. They had healing tanks on their ship, Vegeta only needed to get him to one, then he would be fine. Both Kakarot, Gohan and the baby would be fine. They had to be.

Vegeta ignored the nagging doubt digging its fangs into his convictions as a city appeared underneath him. Moments later, he landed on a manicured lawn in front of a big dome shaped building. Vegeta spared only a glance for the structure before running forwards and barging into the front hall—the electric doors almost too slow to get out of the way. Panting, he looked around wildly. Where were they?!”

“Sir, this is private property. You’re intruding.”

With a snarl, Vegeta whipped around to face the man who had spoken to him. “Where is my son!?!” He demanded to know.

When he saw the wild look on Vegeta’s face, the man stumbled back. Now shaking, he reached for the radio at his hip. “Th-this is front hall security. We have a breach.”

Ire growing, Vegeta took a heavy step forwards and brought up a hand filled with volatile swirling energy. “You have five seconds to point me to my son, or I’ll make you into fried—“

“Vegeta!?”

Startled by the voice, Vegeta let his charged shot fizzle out and turned to look at his brother. “Tarble?” He said, voice faint from confusion. What… Why was he here? Raditz was dead, Kakarot had said so, and assuming that Tarble had been with them, Vegeta had thought him dead too. “Why are you here?” Vegeta asked, suspicion growing. “Weren’t you with Kakarot?” Surely, his brother would not have left Vegeta’s pregnant mate alone and unprotected? If he had… Vegeta growled, eyes narrowing. “Answer me.”

For once, Tarble seemed to completely ignore the threat in his brother’s voice. Instead he shot forward and grabbed Vegeta’s wrist. “Come with me, hurry! There’s no time!” He said as he started pulling Vegeta further into the building.

Tarble’s pale face and sweaty hands brought the reality of the situation back to Vegeta. He had no time to stand here and accuse his brother—he had to find Kakarot!

The guard jumped out of the way with a startled shout when the two alien brothers ran past him.

Winding grey hallways led them through twists and turns, but Vegeta hardly noticed the surroundings, not before he was suddenly standing in something that was either a lab or a med-bay, and the first thing he saw was his son lying on a medical gurney. Vegeta ran to his side, paying no mind to the blue haired waif who barely managed to get clear before Vegeta took her place.

“Gohan?” Vegeta cupped his son’s face between his hands, and the little boy moaned. He was flushed red and sweating, his eyes glassy and unfocused. He was gasping for breath. Suddenly he tensed up, head snapping back as he seized. Vegeta cursed and struggled to hold him still so he wouldn’t hurt himself. “What’s happening—what’s wrong with him?! Where’s Kakarot?!”

Tarble was suddenly at Vegeta’s side, hurriedly explaining. “It’s power burn. His bracelets were removed—we don’t know why. I didn’t notice it at first. I thought he was just crying because of Kakarot—that he was upset and scared. But then he got worse. He grew delirious until we couldn’t get in contact with him and he seized.”

Vegeta cursed and focused back on Gohan, who had gone lax again, but whose breathing had grown even more labored. His tiny body was shaking and drenched in sweat. Vegeta had to focus on his son—he couldn’t focus on Tarble’s comment about Kakarot. Not yet. He had to suppress his son’s power before it killed him.

It had been years since Vegeta had done the technique. He hadn’t needed to, not since Kakarot gave birth to Gohan. But as his son convulsed again, the memory of it came rushing back. Vegeta was already touching Gohan’s skin, so it only took him a second to close his eyes, concentrate and then start smothering Gohan’s still rising energy. At first it felt like trying to quell a tsunami. The energy just kept pushing forward like a giant wave, uncaring that it was sweeping its host along for the ride. Vegeta gritted his teeth and focused harder.

It took over a minute before Vegeta managed to subdue it, that was how out of control it was. But even when he was done, when Gohan had gone limp and his breathing started to even out, Vegeta knew he couldn’t let go. The technique required either direct touch or eye contact. “Get me a set of power suppressers.” Vegeta ordered with a strained voice. “Hurry.”

“We don’t have any.” Tarble said, pulling at his hair. “Don’t you think we would have tried that first?!”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Vegeta snapped.

Finally, Tarble seemed to notice the six man team of saiyan soldiers who had entered the room behind Vegeta. “Oh.” He said dumbly, while blinking at them.

“We don’t have any with us sire.” One officer came forward and said. “But we’re already sending for a set to be brought from the ship.” He hesitated and exchanged a glance with the science officer. “…They might be too big though. They are meant for prisoners, not…” He gestured feebly at Gohan’s unconscious form.

“We’ll make it work somehow for now.” Vegeta said. “Make the technicians dissemble and refit a pair for him too, get them working at it immediately. And send a medical team.” Orders given, Vegeta picked up his slowly stirring child and rested him against his shoulder. Then he turned and shot a deadly glare at Tarble. “Now. Where is my mate?”

Tarble grew impossibly paler and took a stumbling step back. “He—“ Tarble choked out, words sticking in his suddenly too narrow throat. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be ‘ _sorry’_.” Vegeta sneered and took a threatening step closer to his shaking brother. “Tell me where he is.”

“He’s dead.”

The voice wasn’t Tarble’s. Both that and the words brought Vegeta to a complete halt. “You’re lying.” Vegeta responded immediately, even before he turned to look at the blue haired human girl who had spoken. “Kakarot is one of the strongest saiyans currently alive. He is _not_ dead.” Vegeta refused to believe it.

“Bulma…” Tarble interjected worriedly, eyes flickering between her and his older brother. Vegeta looked close to snapping— he was standing defensively, all muscles tensed, eyes narrow and dark and tail bristling. Around his clenching and releasing fists blue sparks danced between his fingers, but it didn’t even seem like he noticed the unconscious threat. The look in his eyes sent chills down Tarble’s back. Vegeta seemed almost… unstable. No, not almost. He _was_ close to losing it—and if he snapped, there would be nothing any of them could do.

Unfortunately, Bulma ignored him. 

Instead she frowned, her blue eyes sad as she took Vegeta in. “I know it must be really hard to believe, to understand, but right now he is.” She said, voice gentle. “There was nothing we could do—I’m sorry.” She wanted to say more, to reassure that it wasn’t the end, but a glance at the unknown saiyans in the room prevented her. She wasn’t sure it was safe to talk about the dragon balls here.

It was like all the air was sucked out of the room, and Vegeta’s next breath rattled in his lungs like he had inhaled gravel. Ice filled his belly, and unconsciously, Vegeta pulled his half-awake son closer. He shook his head, eyes wide and unseeing. “No, he’s not—he can’t be. I—no.”

This couldn’t be happening. Not to him, no. Vegeta had finally found someone who he—someone who made him _feel_ —and Kakarot had said it too! Right before they lost connection. He had said it. So, this… This couldn’t be happening.

They had a family together—they had _children_ damnit. Kakarot was his Consort, he was meant to rule beside Vegeta someday. Not—not this. Never this. He was supposed to have been _safe_.

“Why?” Vegeta could hardly recognize the voice who spoke the word as his.

The room was silent as the grave. No one answered, no one wanted to.

Then suddenly a tiny mewl broke the quiet.

In a daze, Vegeta turned around and looked towards the wall. There was a tiny crib standing there, and almost familiar source of ki coming from it. But before now, Vegeta had only ever felt it covered by Kakarot’s.   

“Because he prioritized his kid.” An unknown voice said from behind him. Vegeta didn’t turn to look though. His eyes were caught on the crib. He couldn’t breathe.  

“ _Piccolo!”_ Bulma hissed. “I told you to stay out, don’t aggravate the situ—“

With a snort, Piccolo ignored her and walked closer to the frozen prince. “I was the only one there when Goku died. I figured his husband might want to know how it happened.” There was a mean lilt to his voice, almost like he was enjoying the havoc he knew he was creating. “Goku might have survived if he hadn’t asked me to carve his baby out of him. If he had let the kid die inside him, there might have been enough time for himself. As it were, he chose differently, and it’s awfully difficult to survive with your intestines lying all over the ground.” Piccolo said.  

Jarred from his staring, Vegeta looked at Piccolo. Faintly he noticed that the man wasn’t an Earthling, but the thought was barely acknowledged. Instead his words rang in Vegeta’s skull. There had been a chance for Kakarot to live? Yet it had been wasted, all because of this green slug. Why, _why_ had Kakarot chosen to save their child and die himself? They could have had other children together if Kakarot had lived.

But he hadn’t. He had been gutted and bled out instead, choosing death over life despite escaping from Frieza. Kakarot was gone. He was— no. It didn’t seem real. How could he be gone?!

Vegeta’s head was fogging over with a red mist. He wanted to scream. Heat was bubbling up inside him—like a volcano close to eruption. His hands were shaking, and it was becoming hard to hold Gohan. The words were still trying to seep in—the reality of their meaning so horrible that Vegeta’s entire being had at first rejected them. Now he was forced to look at the man who had watched Kakarot die, who had let him die. No, not just that. Piccolo had carved him open and—“You killed him.” Vegeta said, focus narrowing into a pinpoint.  

It hurt. It was like someone had gored his chest and was pulling his heart out, crushing it cruelly in their fist. Vegeta had never known there could be a pain like that. It was _physical_ , visceral agony. He was choking, blood rushing so loudly he could hear it. His body burned, like Gohan’s fever had been transferred to him. He wanted to rage and kill. Vegeta wanted to _hurt_. He wanted to hurt someone like _he_ was hurting—like Kakarot had been hurting when he died, alone and afraid while this freak cut him open like a carcass and—

Something snapped.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on making this longer, but the next part is giving me trouble. Not because I don't know what needs to happen, but guh... Words are hard.  
> Sucky chapter, I know, but don't worry. Things will get better soon.


	43. Chapter 43

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Touched by an angel with loooove!" - Céline Dion
> 
> (In which the author has mentally given up)

Vegeta put Gohan down, then slowly stood back up. His face was lowered, half hidden by shadows. The air started simmering around him. Then glass panes in the room’s windows began rattling in their frames and the fluorescent overhead lights started blinking while the medical machines went haywire.

“I’m going to kill you.” Vegeta growled, voice low and dangerous.

Piccolo took a step back, but Tarble was the first to really realize what was happening. “Bulma, run! Take the baby and run!” He screamed, as he himself ran towards his brother and grabbed him by the shoulders, then shook him. Touching Vegeta felt like sticking your hands into an electric outlet. But even knowing that it was futile, Tarble tried. “Vegeta! Don’t, you can’t kill him—he’s our only way to bring Go—he’s our only way to bring _Kakarot_ back!”

“Bring him back?” Vegeta sneered, dark eyes flashing. His powers kept rising. “Kakarot’s _dead_. I can’t get him back.” He spat the words like they were acid in his mouth. “It’s all because of this cursed planet. He was always obsessed with it—always wanted to go back. If this blasted mudball hadn’t been here, if _you_ hadn’t aided his whims and that green freak hadn’t touched him, then none of this would have happened. My mate would still be alive!”

Before anyone could react, Vegeta fired a violent energy shot, the red light lighting up the room in a fiery blaze. Piccolo barely managed to dodge in time. Instead a big chunk of the wall to outside was blown away in a storm of rubble.

Tarble gasped at the destruction and then whipped around. “Piccolo, run!”

Piccolo didn’t run. He picked himself off of the floor with a wince while he glared at his attacker. “Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear him?!” Piccolo yelled, voice shrill and his clothes singed. “If you kill me, there’s no way for you to get Goku back!”

“Stop lying to me!” Vegeta roared as energy exploded out of him and threw Tarble back.

Piccolo cursed and took the chance to get out of dodge, escaping through the hole in the wall. He knew that his connection to Kami, their shared life-force, meant the others would protect him since the dragon balls hang in the balance. Even so, there was no reason to gamble. Helping Goku and saving the child had unnerved him and made him question the reason for his existence. He was made for destruction, not—not saving people! He had wanted to mock Goku’s husband, to assure himself that he was still evil, still a demon; no matter what Kami and Bulma said. But he hadn’t counted on the saiyan prince snapping and going after his life! He had thought Vegeta knew about the dragon balls, he assumed someone would have told him by now, but apparently not. And even when faced with the information, the murderous saiyan didn’t believe it. 

So Piccolo took off, and then the team of saiyans Vegeta had brought with him disappeared too. They knew better than to stay near their prince mid meltdown.

Bulma watched them run away with a pissed look, eye twitching. “Proud warrior race my ass.” She said as she clung to one of the remaining walls. Vegeta’s energy seemed out of control, and was causing things to fly around the room. Tarble had been thrown close to her, leaving a dent in the wall, and she watched him shake his head as he tried to get rid of the resulting dizziness.

Blood tickled down Tarble’s temple and it took him a long moment to notice Bulma’s presence. His eyes widened when he spotted her. “What are you still doing here? Get out!”

“No! He’ll destroy my lab!”

“Never mind the lab!” Tarble yelled back as he struggled to his feet. “Bulma, he’s out of control. Get yourself and the kids out before he hurts you!”

“How?!” Bulma asked, with a gesture towards the enraged saiyan in the center of the storm. “Gohan’s right next to him, and he’s not awake yet!”

Tarble clenched his teeth and looked between the corner of the room, at the crib, and back at his brother. “You get the baby. I’ll try to calm Vegeta down and get Gohan.” He said, then started towards his brother to do just that.

“Tarble!” Bulma called after him, heart lodged in her throat. “Damnit, we should all run.” She cursed as she detached herself from her cover by the wall and ran for the crib. Vegeta looked absolutely terrifying right now, red energy pulsing around him, object flying through the air and crashing against the walls like a tornado had been let loose in the room. But this wasn’t the first super-powered psycho Bulma had run into, and there was no way she was letting him crash any more of her lab.

Bulma picked up the mewling baby and hushed him. “Shh, shh, it’s okay. We just need to calm your papa down real quick.” The little boy had a dark brown tail just like Goku had when he was a kid, and it was whipping around stiffly and uncoordinated as the boy broke into a wail. He reminded Bulma of a newborn kitten, all fluff and chub and no motor skills. She could only hope the boy’s father found him just as cute.

“Vegeta!” She yelled, shielding her face as she pushed herself through the whipping indoors storm and towards the center. She held the baby close to her own chest, safely tucked away. “Vegeta! Think about your children! They’re right here! You’ll hurt them!” She screamed at him, ignoring how Tarble had focused on her again and was sending her a wide-eyed and panicked look while shaking his head.

Vegeta didn’t appear to hear her. Instead he threw his head back and roared—a sound so deep and powerful that it vibrated through the entire building. The remaining windows were blown out, glass shards sent flying. It looked like Vegeta’s hair spiked up even further than before, like electricity was running through him. The golden crackles sparking across his skin only seemed to support this theory. The energy in the room was tangible, even to someone like Bulma. It smelled strongly like ozone.

It was absolutely, pants-wettingly terrifying, and Bulma’s reptile brain was screaming at her to run. Get away from this monster—go, go, GO!

She gritted her teeth and ignored it. Her childhood friend had sacrificed himself for his children, and she was _not_ letting Goku’s crazy ass husband ruin everything in his rage.

Finally, she reached the two brothers and collapsed against Tarble’s side, out of breath and panting.

“What are you doing!?!” Tarble screamed at her, his dark eyes wild and face bleeding from cuts caused by sparking energy and flying objects. He let go of his brother and tried pushing Bulma back instead. “I told you to take the baby and run!”

“No.” Bulma ground out. With a fierce glare she straightened up, expression set, and then slapped Vegeta across the face as hard as she could. He didn’t even flinch. “Pull yourself together you crazy asshole!” She screamed at him. “Piccolo wasn’t lying! There’s still a way to bring Goku back, and if you hurt his children in the meantime, he will never forgive you!”

Point made, she thrust the baby at his father.

Maybe it was coincidence, or sheer stupid luck. Maybe it was instinct kicking in. Whatever the case, Vegeta’s arms came up and he caught his infant son before Bulma could let go of the baby.

Quickly Tarble pulled her back. “Are you crazy?!”

“I wasn’t going to just let him go.” Bulma defended herself. She had only needed it to seem like she was depending on Vegeta catching the kid. Surely, he would calm down now?

Tarble hissed something in a language she didn’t recognize and kept pulling her back; away from Vegeta, whose energy was going down but who still looked out of it.

The baby started crying even louder, frightened wails splitting the air in the room.

Around them, the energy storm kept raging.

 

xXx

 

The child was crying. Vegeta blinked, his head was hammering, a dull pain ringing through it like a drum. The baby’s screaming only made it worse. With a growl, Vegeta looked down and realized that he was holding his youngest son. When had that happened? When had he—had he just lost time?

Vegeta shook his head. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Kakarot was gone. The red haze in his head was still there, the burning rage in his chest not extinguished. Moments ago Vegeta had felt like he was standing at the edge of a cliff, staring at the abyss. So close to something unknown and close to falling into it. It had tasted like electricity and power, like molten gold… But then he had heard the cries of his son, and now it was just out of reach.   

“Papa?” A dry cough. A tiny hand pulling at his leg. Vegeta looked down and saw his oldest staring up at him with hazy eyes and a pained grimace. “Papa, it hurts.”

The words, and the sight, shook Vegeta to the core. Gohan looked just like his mother, face twisted from pain and exhaustion. Vegeta had seen that expression far too much already. What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t lose it. Not yet. With another growl, this one aimed at himself, he bent down and scooped Gohan up with his free arm. “You’ll get better.” Vegeta promised, voice still deep and gravely.

Without another glance at his useless little brother and the blue haired waif of a girl, Vegeta took off, shooting out of the hole in the wall and up into the sky.

He floated in the air above green manicured lawns, palm trees and chlorinated pools, and hated every last inch of it. Vegeta glared at it all, face twisted and throat burning. _This_ was what Kakarot had been so eager to see again?

“Papa.” Gohan cried weakly against the crook of Vegeta’s neck. Fresh tears wetted the material of his armor, their scent sharp and saline. “Daddy didn’t… Daddy went away. I couldn’t stop him. I’m so— I’m sorry!” He hiccupped, then broke into a heartrending sob.

Vegeta closed his eyes and pulled his children closer. He knew he should comfort Gohan, but he couldn’t find the words. Nothing could get past the lump in his throat.

The baby had stopped crying when he took to the air, but now it made a mewling whine. Vegeta didn’t want to look at it. Kakarot had chosen it over his own life, and Vegeta couldn’t understand why. He didn’t want to understand. Between the two, Kakarot was clearly the most valuable.

_‘Of course he chose as he did. He’s their mother.’_ Vegeta’s mind supplied, despite the words being unwelcome. Slowly, reluctantly, Vegeta opened his eyes and looked down into the squishy face of his youngest.

The baby looked just like Vegeta. Same skin color, same dark auburn hair, only it was straight and silky. There was barely any of Kakarot in him—this, more than anything, felt like a punch to the gut. Vegeta’s stomach started churning, bile lodging in his throat. A memory came to him, unbidden and intrusive. “No… Please, please don’t have—” 

 

_“Do you think this one will look like me too?” Kakarot had teased with a smile, as he ran a hand over his rounded belly. Gohan had been sleeping next to him, head rested on his mother’s diminishing lap. “Maybe this time, our son will take after you.”_

_“Hmpf.” Vegeta had joined him on the couch and handed Kakarot a mug of herbal tea. The beta had taken it gratefully. “…I guess it’d be nice if he had your eyes.” Vegeta had admitted after a moment._

_“My eyes?” Kakarot had repeated, said honey orbs twinkling. He had leaned closer and nuzzled against Vegeta’s neck. “What about them? I like yours, you know. I’ve never seen anyone with eyes as black as yours. Except Gohan, of course.” His tone had been warm and pleased._

_Vegeta had chuckled as he ran a hand through Kakarot’s wild but soft hair. “Black or dark eyes are common amongst saiyans. Yours are… Unique. Beautiful.”_

_“Beautiful, huh?” Kakarot had said. Vegeta could feel his warm breath against his neck. “Well, maybe he could look like you, but with my eyes then. That’d be nice, don’t you think?”_

_“I guess so. But it doesn’t matter, as long as he is born safely.”_

_Kakarot had just laughed. “We’ll be fine. This time it’ll be okay.” Vegeta had tried to ignore the hint of nerves hiding in Kakarot’s voice—and how he was faintly shaking._

_Vegeta had put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. “Yea… Yea, I’ll make sure of it.”_

 

The baby fussed, but Vegeta just kept staring at him, body frozen as the memory whirled through his mind. His son’s face was red from crying and he kept opening and smacking his lips. He was hungry, but his mother wasn’t there to feed him, or to give him warmth, and the one holding him wasn’t reacting to his pleas. With a creaking whine he opened his eyes.

They were a warm golden brown.  

Vegeta’s breath hitched and his eyes started burning. His vision blurred. Gohan was still crying in his ear, calling for his mama. Kakarot preferred being called daddy… But it didn’t matter what Kakarot preferred anymore. He was gone.

Growling, Vegeta tore his gaze away from his youngest and glared at the landscape. Soon this planet would be too. This blasted place which had stolen Kakarot from him. Vegeta would end it. He would take his vengeance on this world first and everyone on it, his traitorous failure of a brother too, and then some day, Frieza would also pay. Vegeta would put him through everything he had done to Kakarot tenfold. He would whip him, carve him up, break his bones, pour acid on him and gorge out his—

No. Don’t remember. 

He looked back at the baby, thinking it would help, but it didn’t. It only highlighted that it wasn’t who Vegeta really wanted to see, and reminded him why he was gone. With a shuddering draw of breath, Vegeta looked away from his new son’s eyes again. He couldn’t look at them. They felt like a mockery. Vegeta would give anything, _anything_ , to see the original owner of those eyes once more.

They hadn’t even shown him the body.

“Gohan, put your arms around my neck and hold on. I’m going to make fireworks of this place.” Vegeta ground out.

Sniffling, Gohan did as told, his crying tampering off. “Fi-fireworks?”

“Yes.” Vegeta growled as he raised a palm towards the Erath’s surface. “We’ll watch it from space. It’s your mother’s— it’s for Kakarot.“ _It’s his funeral fire_. Vegeta couldn’t bring himself to say.

Energy started gathering in his hand, red and swirling violently. It grew bigger, hotter and more volatile quickly, but Vegeta didn’t stop feeding it. When the red blaze blocked out his vision, it was almost a blessing. He didn’t have to look at the Earth anymore. Soon it would be nothing but fire and ashes. Vegeta could make it to a ship with his children much faster than the planet would blow. Then it would be over.

“Brother! What are you doing!?”

 It was Tarble. He was screaming from down below, voice shrill and breaking at the end. Vegeta didn’t bother looking at him.  

“What I should have done years ago!” Vegeta yelled back, and gave his planet destroyer another push of energy. “When I first found Kakarot, I should have annihilated this world!” Then Kakarot would have had nothing to come back to. He would have been safe.

“Don’t! You’ll kill us all!” Tarble yelled.

“I’ll kill _you_.” Vegeta corrected darkly as he flew higher up. He was uninterested in hearing his brother begging for his life. At least Tarble could have faced his end with dignity, just like Kakarot had done. His mate hadn’t broken, not even once, even though he had cried out. He had stayed defiant until the very end.

But instead of making peace with his demise, Tarble followed them into the air. “We can bring Goku back! IT’S TRUE!” He tried desperately as he kept pursuing them. “Our planet was saved with the same power. That’s why we came here in the first place. Please Vegeta, _think_. You must have noticed!”

For a moment, Vegeta hesitated.

“Papa?!” Gohan asked, voice going high. “What about uncle Tarble?” His hands clenched around Vegeta’s neck to the point of pain, and his energy skyrocketed for a moment before Vegeta got a lock on it and suppressed it again. The scent of fear hit Vegeta’s nose like a punch to the gut, but he made himself ignore it. Tarble had to be lying. He was just trying to save his own skin.

But… Kakarot had mentioned something similar over the scouter…

Vegeta shook his head. No, he couldn’t bear to hope again. The dead couldn’t come back—they were lost forever. Kakarot was lost.

“PAPA!” Gohan screamed and struggled, finally catching on that something was completely wrong. His papa looked and smelled all wrong. Scary. When you hit people with energy, they got hurt. Gohan had hurt people with energy, and they had died. Now his papa was aiming at his uncle Tarble.

“Your pathetic uncle will be staying here.” Vegeta ground out. He allowed himself one last look at his brother, slightly obscured by the red glow of his charged attack. Tarble was still slightly below them, staring up at Vegeta with a broken expression. He was saying something, yelling, but Vegeta couldn’t hear it. His ears were ringing.  

“Goodbye, little brother.” Vegeta sneered and got a firm grab on Gohan, who was yelling and struggling to escape. It was made difficult by the baby, but it was doable. Even if Gohan fought, his energy was suppressed by Vegeta, who wasn’t going to let go. It was too late; there was nothing Gohan could do about it now. His mother was gone; the time for mollycoddling was over. The boy had to learn what happened to weaklings eventually. This was his first lesson.

Vegeta raised his arm, closed his eyes and readied to shoot. He watched the red glow grow brighter behind his closed eyelids.

“Goodbye, Kakarot.”

 

xXx

 

"Vegeta! Don't!"

Strong arms wrapped around Vegeta’s shoulders, and soft hair tickled his nose. A familiar scent hit him seconds later. It reminded him of yellow grasses, fresh fruit and carried a hint of milk. That voice—it wasn’t possible for it to be here. Warm ki washed over Vegeta's tense body, like sunlight on a summer day. Vegeta eyes shot open, seeing nothing but dark hair and pale skin. His heart lunged and he gasped.

It couldn't be. It was impossible.

Shocked, Vegeta almost lost control of the attack. As a last ditch effort, he shot it upwards instead of down. The power ball exploded in the sky and cast a red glow over the city, like a burning sunrise.  

As soon as his hand was free, Vegeta brought his arm around the vision of his mate and clutched him desperately against his chest, as close as he could despite their children between them.

Kakarot shuddered and hit his fists weakly against Vegeta’s pecs. “What were you _doing_!? What is _wrong_ with you?! Why would you—“

Kakarot kept screaming at him, voice shrill from shock and anger. Vegeta didn’t really listen to the words, but lost himself in the sensations. He wondered if this was it, if his psyche had finally broken irreplaceably and he was seeing visions of his dead mate. Or maybe he had actually gotten caught in the blast, and in his dying moments saw hallucinations bringing Kakarot back to him. If so, it wasn't the worst way to die.

"You... You were dead.” Vegeta said, hand clenching against warm skin on Kakarot’s bare back. That wasn’t possible either. Kakarot had been whipped and burned; his entire back had been an open wound. Vegeta had seen it. Yet here he was, warm and soft despite his anger. “They said you were— how? This can't be—This isn’t real.” Had they lied to him? Why?

Instead of answering, Kakarot went limp, anger draining. He let out a sob into Vegeta's neck and hugged him tighter. “You bastard, I should knock you out!” He cried, voice breaking, but he kept clinging and didn’t let go, his entire body shaking.  

"Daddy!" Gohan cried from between them, and wiggled around until he could throw himself at his mother and cling around his neck. "Daddy, daddy! You're back! I was scared!"

"Gohan. Oh, Gohan." Kakarot choked out past his tears and tried to pull back enough to look at his son. Vegeta didn't let him.

"How?" Vegeta asked again, voice hoarse and his entire body trembling. Gohan was seeing Kakarot too; either they were both mad, or this was real. Vegeta’s arm tightened around his mate in an almost spasm. He couldn't let go.

Finally, Kakarot raised his head and looked at him, his gaze a mix of tears and still simmering anger.

"Your eyes!" Vegeta gasped as he finally let go to instead cup Kakarot's face with a hand and stroke his thumb across his cheek. "They're both there." His hand shifted further back and found nothing but smooth skin. "And your ear too. You're _whole_." There were no wounds left from Frieza's torture. Yet, when Vegeta locked eyes with his mate again, he found shadows that he had never seen there before. Some scars went deeper than flesh.  

Vegeta stared, trembling hand still cupping Kakarot’s face. “They lied to me. You’re alive.” He said, voice faint.

Kakarot’s expression crumbled. His lower lip wobbled and he looked down— down into Vegeta’s arms at their baby. He didn’t answer. Instead he let out a wounded noise and reached for their infant. “Oh gods—“ He choked out as he picked their youngest out of Vegeta’s arm and hugged him against his bare chest. Eyes squeezed shut, he let out a sob into his baby’s soft downy hair, taking in his scent. The little boy mewled when he caught the instinctually familiar scent of his mother. “You’re okay. Shh, shhh baby. I’ve got you.” Kakarot hushed him, even as he kept letting tears fall into his soft tufts of hair.

Divested of both children, who were now either clinging to or carried by Kakarot, Vegeta’s arms hang limply by his side as he stared wide-eyed at his crying family. He should probably do something, go to them, hold them… But he felt too numb to move. This was too good to be true. He had prayed for this, begged for this, but nice things never happened to Vegeta. They just didn’t. It made him hesitant to believe what he was seeing. If this turned out to be some sick conjuring of his mind…

“Ah, so this is them.” A croaky voice said from right behind him. “I was wondering what Goku’s family looked like.”

Vegeta startled and whipped around, only to come face to a winkled old prune of a woman with shockingly pink hair. She floated back a bit, and Vegeta saw that she was seated on a glass ball, dark robes hanging over the top part. He hadn’t sensed her at all.

“Who are you?“ Vegeta asked, hackles rising as he stared at her.

“I’m Baba.” The old hag said before he had even finished his question. “Don’t mind me sonny, I’m just here to deliver Goku for the day.” She nodded towards Kakarot.

“For the day?” Vegeta repeated, not exactly understanding what she meant, but not liking the sound of it regardless. He knew there had to be something going on. Even with a healing tank, Kakarot shouldn’t have been able to look so well. There hadn’t been enough time for that.

Baba seemed unfazed by Vegeta’s narrow-eyed glare. “Now go be with your husband. Chop chop. You only have twenty-four hours.”

What did she mean? Thoughts whirling, Vegeta spun to look at Kakarot again, eyes scanning him as his pulse rose once more. Kakarot was still holding their children, lost in embracing them and rubbing his head and cheeks against Gohan who as nuzzling him. He looked completely healthy. Well, he was a bit pale perhaps, and his eyes were red rimmed and swollen from crying, but other than that… Vegeta looked him over again and found nothing wrong. Even his tail was back.

“Try looking above instead.” Baba suggested in her creaky voice from behind him.

Vegeta did as told, and his mouth went dry. Above Kakarot’s head a golden halo shone, its soft light casting a warm glow over his dark hair. If any of the stories about the afterlife were true, then that halo meant— “NO!” Vegeta yelled and shot forwards. He grabbed Kakarot by the arms and squeezed.

Eyes wide and startled, Kakarot looked up at him.

“Tell me you’re alive! Tell me you’re safe—that you’re staying with me!” Vegeta demanded as he shook him.

Kakarot paled and his lips went thin and bloodless. His expression said it all. The air was sucked right out of Vegeta’s lungs and his stomach plummeted like a stone. No. It couldn’t be. “TELL ME DAMNIT!”

Kakarot flinched and started shaking again. “P-please don’t…” His shoulders hunched and he practically curved himself around his children, like his chest was hollow. A meek but protective stance.

It made Vegeta force himself to calm down. He had seen what Kakarot had been put through; there was no telling how it would affect him yet. His grip on his mate’s arms gentled and Vegeta pulled him closer again, until he could burrow his nose in Kakarot’s dark hair and squeeze his eyes shut. He just needed a moment to calm down and think. It was hard to find. This close he could tell that Kakarot’s scent was faintly muted, as if he wasn’t all there...

“Please Kakarot…” Vegeta whispered against his head, chest squeezing around his heart and throat constricting. “Please. I can’t lose you.”

Kakarot didn’t say anything, which was almost an answer in itself. He just rested his forehead on Vegeta’s shoulder and took several deep breaths. Voices were sounding from below them, but they both ignored it.

Vegeta waited for Kakarot to find his words, but in reality, he didn’t want to hear them.

 

xXx

 

Goku found it difficult to speak. The sounds stuck in his throat, like it was too narrow for them to pass. His tongue felt swollen and numb. “I… I died.” He finally managed to get out, voice sounding low and feeble. “I can’t really come back, not for another year. But Baba found me in the afterlife. She gave me a day.”

Just one day. One day to hold his baby, to comfort Gohan… And to keep Vegeta from destroying the planet apparently. Goku knew he should be more horrified and angry about that, and he probably would be, later, but right now he couldn’t summon the feelings. He just wanted to hold his children and be held, for as long as it was possible.

Vegeta’s arms spasmed around him before his hands clenched in Goku’s hair. “She has the power to bring back the dead? What is she—“ Vegeta broke himself off and shook his head. His voice was deeper when he spoke again; low and dangerous. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not letting her take you back.” The threat was unspoken but clearly implied. Vegeta didn’t care if he had to fight the gods to keep his mate. He would do it, and he would win. There was no other option for him. Goku knew this, but right now Vegeta’s willingness to challenge the order of the universe for him would help no one.   

Carefully, Goku pulled back to look at his mate. Vegeta looked haggard. His skin was pale and waxy, his eyes bulging and red shot, with dark circles swelling like bruises underneath. The lines in his face looked severe and there was a manic tint to his expression. It made Goku’s blood run cold and his heart beat faster. “It doesn’t work like that.” He said slowly, still trying to gauge how close Vegeta was to losing it again. “I don’t get a choice in it… But I can come back Vegeta. I promise, okay? Just not for—“ He broke off and looked down at his tiny baby boy, who was fussing in his arms, nuzzling against his chest in search of milk. A lump lodged in Goku’s throat and his eyes started burning again. “…Just not for another year.” He whispered, voice shaking.  

“I don’t accept that.” Vegeta growled.

Goku ran a hand through Gohan’s hair. The toddler was still clinging to him, whining and whimpering into his neck for attention. Goku chuckled mirthlessly. “I really don’t want to either.” He let out a sigh and slumped closer to Vegeta, resting his head against his shoulder again. “Can we go down? We’ll talk later, I’m just… I’m so tired Vegeta.”

They had a lot to discuss. Right below the relief of seeing each other was the unspoken tension of the actions which had brought them here. Vegeta might be mollified by having Goku back in his arms for the moment, but Goku knew it wouldn’t last. He wished it would though. He was cold and tired, his fingers felt numb and raw, like if he looked, there wouldn’t be any nails… Nausea still stirred in his belly, and for once, Goku wasn’t hungry at all. The last few days had happened so fast, with suffering in every minute. Goku hadn’t dealt with it all yet, he couldn’t. He was compartmentalizing really hard right now not to break apart into a thousand pieces. The warm bodies of his children resting against him helped keep him anchored to reality, but it was a thin line.   

Vegeta’s muscles untensed at Goku’s request, the instinct to please and care for his tired and wounded mate strong. Not that Kakarot was physically wounded anymore, but despite this, he somehow still smelled of pain. It was messing with Vegeta’s head. “Yes. I suppose we must.”

 

xXx

 

“Goku!” Tarble called out as soon as they landed softly on the neatly trimmed lawn. Bulma was right next to him, hanging on to his arm with a death grip and staring wide-eyed at Vegeta. When Tarble’s focus shifted to Vegeta too, the relief on his face melted away in favor of a complicated expression that Goku couldn’t read. “It’s good you’re back Goku, otherwise…” He trailed off, not saying the obvious.

Goku was leaning against his mate, children in his arms, and still feeling incredibly exhausted. But at Tarble’s words he felt a hot flare of anger stirring in his belly. The fact that Vegeta would have killed them all if Goku hadn’t shown up hung in the air, heavy and unspoken. He could only guess at what Tarble was thinking right now, but it couldn’t be anything pleasant.

“I needed to come back.” Goku greeted his friend with, going for honesty for lack of anything else to say. He gazed down at his children and pulled them a little closer. Gohan was resting on his hip, glaring at his father, and the little one was rooting for a nipple but having trouble latching on. “Did you feed my baby?” Goku asked, focus shifting fully to his kids. He didn’t have the capacity to deal with anything else right now. Didn’t want to. His mate had just tried to blow up the _planet_. That reality coupled very badly with Goku’s desire for cuddles.

“Uh—“ Tarble blinked, thrown off by the question. “No, we tried but he wouldn’t eat, and then Gohan got sick… He got a senzu though?”

“I see.” Goku said, and stroked a finger over his baby’s chubby cheek. Did he have a name yet? He looked so much like Vegeta, but his hair was softer, more straight and silky. He was also tiny, much smaller than Gohan had been. He fit into the crook of Goku’s elbow with ease. If was easy to tell that he was born early. If he hadn’t been given a senzu, Goku didn’t want to think about what would have happened. He hadn’t been able to feel his son’s ki at all before he died. “I need to sit down somewhere, I need to feed him.” He could worry about everything else later. 24 hours wasn’t much time, but it would have to be enough.

“You!”

The sudden screech made Goku’s head snap up. It was Bulma. She appeared to have regained her courage, and now she was pointing at Vegeta with a stiff finger and a vicious glare. Her expression made Goku want to shift away. “Were you really trying to kill us?! What’s wrong with you!?! If you blew the planet up, the dragon balls would have gone too and Goku would have been dead for good!”

Vegeta’s eyes narrowed and the hand he had on Goku’s shoulder clenched. “Dragon balls.” He repeated. “You know, I think it’s time you all explain to me exactly what is going on here.”

Goku glanced at his mate. He knew that Vegeta was smart enough to realize that he was dealing with something supernatural; magic of some kind. Hell, he was standing with his arm around his _dead_ mate, which made it rather obvious. But he had been kept out of the loop for a long time. Judging from the way his lips were pulled back into a snarl, he clearly realized this. If Goku hadn’t just been tortured, or had given birth and needed to feed their child… If he didn’t happen to push every one of Vegeta’s protective instincts, Goku didn’t want to think about what the prince might have done.

Since Goku was off limits, Vegeta seemed to be focusing his ire towards Tarble instead; jaw clenched and fangs flashing.

Catching Vegeta’s glare, Tarble swallowed heavily, but stood his ground. His brother had already tried to murder him once today, and though that sounded about as horrifying as it was, Tarble couldn’t say he was surprised. He had known for a long time that Vegeta wasn’t in possession of a full set of marbles, and this escalation, the actual attempted implementation of his usual threats, was less jarring than it probably should have been. But before now, Tarble hadn’t realized how much of his brother’s remaining sanity rested on the welfare of his mate and kids. It didn’t exactly inspire confidence in the future. “Yes.” Tarble licked his lips and looked between his brother and Goku. The latter looked pale, eyes flacking nervously between Tarble and Vegeta as he clutched his children to his chest. “I think we all need to update each other on what has happened.”

For example Tarble still didn’t know what had happened to Goku over the last days, only that it had been bad and that he had died from it. He still didn’t know what had become of Raditz either, but he suspected the worst.

Bulma crossed her arms and glared between the saiyans. “Oh sure, blow a hole in my home and then invite yourself inside.” She said. “Try to explode the planet and then sit down for tea. Why, perhaps I’ll make my mother bake you some brownies!”

Vegeta nodded and started leading Goku inside, guiding him by the arm. “Do that. Kakarot needs something sweet and something to drink while he’s nursing.” He said, completely ignoring Bulma’s sarcasm and in favor of ordering her around.

Bulma made a high pitched noise in the back of her throat, then grabbed her own shoulder and started swinging her arm like a cartoon character, eyes burning as she stalked towards Vegeta’s retreating back. “Why you little—“

Tarble caught her by the wrist and gently pulled her back, then shook his head when she turned around to glare at him. “Don’t. I know he’s…” Tarble trailed off with a sigh and briefly closed his eyes. “Trust me, I know exactly how frustrating my brother is. But his mate just died, and who knows what happened to Gohan. He’s not stable Bulma, even less so than normal.” Vegeta might be back to _acting_ like he was fine, but Tarble knew his brother well enough not to be fooled by it. 

Reluctantly, Bulma lowered her arm. “That doesn’t excuse attempted genocide.” She hissed.

Tarble laughed mirthlessly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh no, it definitely doesn’t. But let’s try not to tic him off. Right now the only person able to stop Vegeta doesn’t seem to be all there either.”                               

Bulma frowned and looked down. “…You said Goku had been tortured.”

Tarble pressed his lips together. “Yea. It looked that way.”

“Do you think Vegeta knows?”

With the way he had barged in, ready to kill the security guard for answers about Goku’s whereabouts, Tarble suspected that he did. “I guess we’ll find out.”

Tarble stepped forward, but before he could get further, Bulma grabbed his hand. Tarble looked back, and when he caught her expression he tried to smile reassuringly without letting his own apprehension shine through. He squeezed her hand. “Let’s go.”

 

xXx

 

The living room table was burdened down with various cakes and cookies, delicate porcelain cups and pots of both coffee and tea, accompanied by sugar and cream. Hardly any of it had been touched. A clock ticked loudly in the background, jarring in the silence of the room.

Tarble’s elbows rested on his knees, he was bent over, head in his hands. “Goku was… By Frieza?” He asked, voice hoarse. Bulma reached over and placed a hand on his back. Tarble could feel her shaking.

Vegeta was sitting stiffly in the opposite couch, arms crossed. “Yes. I was made to watch it all.” He said, voice carefully blank as his gaze glided across the arrangement on the table. He wished he could get Kakarot to eat something, but the beta wasn’t interested.

Kakarot was seated next to Vegeta, leaning slightly against him as he nursed their youngest and carted his fingers through Gohan’s hair. He was wearing a soft floral patterned robe, oversized knitted socks and a distant expression on his face. Vegeta knew he wasn’t mentally present.

After borrowing some clothes, Kakarot had given a halting explanation of what had happened after he left Earth, filling out the blanks for Vegeta. But when he got to Frieza, he had lost his voice and had grown pale. Moments later he had tried to excuse himself, only to be stopped, since there was no way Vegeta was letting him out of sight again. Instead he had retreated into himself.

The baby gurgled and grunted, before letting out a satisfied little sigh and sucking harder at his mother’s chest. Now that he was safe, held in a warm embrace and well fed, he was finally a happy babe. Meanwhile Gohan was alternating between cuddling close to his mother and glaring viciously at his father, but Vegeta was too exhausted to deal with that right now.  

When Kakarot had lost his voice, and his presence of mind, that had left Tarble and the human girl Bulma to explain about the Dragon Balls and Kakarot’s whole convoluted plan to save their planet. Well, not convoluted perhaps. Overly simplistic and naïve was probably more correct. What Vegeta still didn’t understand about all this was why the hell Kakarot hadn’t trusted him with that information during the almost _five years_ they had been mated. His hands clenched on his biceps and his jaw grew taut just thinking about it. His mate had some explaining to do.  

“You said the Namekian was responsible for the creation and continued existence of these balls?” Vegeta asked, leaving his upcoming ‘talk’ with Kakarot on the backburner for now.

It took Tarble a moment to answer. He swallowed heavily, eyes still burning at the thought of what had happened to his friend. “Yea… Or, his other part is. As far as I understand it, Kami is some sort of god.”

“Huh.” Vegeta picked up a muffin and turned it over in his hand. “The Namekians always were a mysterious species, said to have strange powers…” He mumbled lowly. Tarble and the woman didn’t appear to hear him. After staring at the muffin for a moment longer, Vegeta got up.

“Where are you going?” Bulma immediately asked, tensing up.

“To find Kakarot a place to rest.” Vegeta said, with a gesture to his mate and the spaced out yet fragile expression he wore. It took Kakarot a long moment to react to Vegeta’s words.

“Huh?” He asked, blinking up at Vegeta.

“Come with me.” Vegeta told him and held out a hand.

Kakarot just stared at it, before slowly picking himself and his children off of the couch. “I’m borrowing the guestroom, is that alright Bulma?” He asked, ignoring Vegeta’s proffered hand. 

Vegeta gritted his teeth and glared at the blue haired waif as she got up and walked over to them. Tarble made an aborted gesture to stop her and shot a nervous glance at Vegeta. Really, as if Tarble hadn’t been pathetic enough already. Now he was clearly also pursuing a human woman instead of a saiyan beta who could give him strong cubs. It was disgusting, but right now Vegeta had more important things on his mind. He could make sure the bloodline stayed clean later.

“Of course it is Goku.” Bulma said as she placed a gentle hand on her friend’s arm. It looked like Kakarot just barely managed to hold back his flinch at the touch. “I’ll help you get settled.” She said, voice sad. She had clearly caught Kakarot’s discomfort too.

Vegeta sent a last nasty glare at his brother before following his mate and the human out of the room. Then he focused on Kakarot’s back.

So the little incendiary wanted to act angry with him? Despite being the source of all the trouble? Oh that would not fly. Vegeta clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth as he stared burning holes through Kakarot. It looked like they would have that ‘talk’ now after all.   

 

xXx

 

Instead of leading them to the guest room that Goku vaguely remembered from former visits, Bulma took them to another hallway in the complex and opened the door with a sweeping gesture. “Tadaa, I hope it passes muster. I know you’re royalty now and all, but I ordered my staff to buy the best of the best.” She said as she stepped into the room. She actually hadn’t seen it herself yet, but she trusted her employees to have done it right.

Goku followed her cautiously and looked around. There were a lot of things in the room, soft stuffed toys and dangling things that looked like wind chimes but made no noise. The crib in the corner he could recognize the use for, but the other furniture puzzled him. There was an abundance of pastel colors everywhere.

Bulma caught Goku’s skeptical expression, but mistook it for something else. She stuffed her hands in her back pockets and shuffled her feet, head held high as she tried to act unaffected. “Yea, I know it’s not exactly decked out in gold or whatever you’re used to, but I promise everything is top of the line. I didn’t know how long it would take for Vegeta to show up, so…” She shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.” Then she walked over to the changing table, gestured at the different compartments and knocked on the top. “See? Solid wood, study even for saiyans.”

Goku eyed the table. “I’m sure it’s fine Bulma, I just don’t see the need? What’s it for?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“Uhm, diaper changing and stuff?” She said, while casting a questioning glance at Vegeta, who had followed them into the room like a lurking shadow. He didn’t respond to her unasked question and continued to blatantly ignore her.

“Huh. Didn’t know humans needed special tables for that.” Goku said with some wonder, as he continued to carefully look around.

Bulma opened and closed her mouth, but had no idea what to say to that. She had assumed saiyan childrearing was similar to the human one, based on their similar physiology, but maybe not?

“Saiyan mothers don’t generally put their cubs down unless they need to sleep or rest themselves, and even then they prefer to hand them to their mate.” Vegeta finally spoke up to clarify, if nothing else then to move things along. He wanted the human gone. “That means cleaning happens anywhere they happen to be at the time it is needed.”

“Oh, same as chimpa—“ Bulma managed to snap her mouth shut before she compared the saiyans to monkeys again and ruffled more tails. The thought of Goku toting around a clingy baby was rather cute though, it lifted her spirits after the information exchange. She cleared her throat and smiled at her friend. “I guess a stationary table would be useless then.”

Goku had his back to her. He had made it to the crib, and after deeming it safe, soft and comfortable, he slowly put his youngest son into it. Gohan kept clinging to his back, unwilling to let go of his mother for even a moment. After everything, Goku couldn’t really blame him for that. Gohan’s quietness worried him though. The boy hadn’t said a peep since he cried when Goku first showed up. The eerie silence reminded Goku about how he had been on Frieza’s ship, eyes dark and alert as he hunted through the halls, with a focus far beyond his years. Goku didn’t like it.

While half of his mind was still stuck on Gohan, Goku smoothed out a soft blue blanket over his baby and rubbed his belly. The little boy let out a complaining creek, not liking to be put down, but his eyes were already drooping from tiredness. “I know little one.” Goku murmured at him as he caressed his soft downy hair. “It’s been a very busy birthday for you. For all of us.” Truthfully speaking, Goku didn’t want to put his son down either, but he could feel Vegeta’s dark glare on his neck and sense the tension in the air. There were certain things his children didn’t need to see or overhear. Now he just needed to figure out how to occupy Gohan.

As Goku leaned over the crib and fussed over his son, Bulma came to stand next to him and looked down at the baby with a tilted head. “Have you guys named him yet? I was going to call him Trunks. Great name, right?”

Goku froze in what he was doing, and from behind them Vegeta let out a furious snarl. “You would dare to name my son?!”

Old habits died hard, and as such Bulma quickly jumped closer to Goku; the perfect wall between her and danger. “I-I mean, we didn’t know when you’d show up! We couldn’t just call him ‘the baby’ until you did.”

Vegeta’s growl made it clear this excuse didn’t placate him, so Goku spoke up to avert any more trouble. “Much as I’m grateful to you Bulma, we are not naming our kid after underwear.” He said, with a strained half smile sent her way. He knew this would normally have amused him, but he just couldn’t find the emotion. He was tired. “We haven’t settled on a name yet,” Goku looked back down at his son, “I like ‘Turpin’ though.”

Bulma muttered something about tasteless aliens and how maybe she’d just the name herself then, before repeating Goku’s name suggestion. “Turpin?” Bulma rolled the name on her tongue. “Is that a saiyan name?”

“Obviously.” Vegeta snapped, arms crossed and glaring. He didn’t argue against Goku’s naming choice though. Frankly he had already planned to name the boy after Kakarot’s preference, even though that had been before his mate showed back up alive. He might hate the name, but his mind drew a blank on any alternatives right now.       

Goku allowed himself a small smile at Vegeta’s compliance and stroked a finger down his son’s cheek. The baby made a little sound and blinked sleepily up at him. “Turpin…” Goku whispered, throat constricting once again. One day was not enough. It could never be enough.

“Kakarot.” Vegeta had come closer and was standing right behind him now. Goku could feel the heat rolling off his body, but for once it brought no comfort. Vegeta’s tone of voice didn’t speak of pleasant reunions; which was fine, because Goku didn’t plan on giving him one. He had things to say too.

Since Vegeta’s impatience hang heavily in the air, enough that even Bulma had edged closer to the door, Goku reached back and drew Gohan around his body until the toddler was seated on his hip. Goku ran a palm down his back and rubbed. “Can you stay here and watch over your brother for me Gohan?” He asked gently.

Gohan watched him back with a tense expression. “To protect him?” Was the little boy’s immediate assumption. Something in Goku’s chest clenched at that. Protecting his family should not be Gohan’s role or responsibility, not for many years, and yet…

“Just to keep him calm while he sleeps. You’re in no danger here.” Goku promised him in a strangled voice.

It looked like Gohan doubted the validity of that statement, but he slowly nodded anyway. With a last nasty glare at his father, he climbed out of Goku’s arms and into the crib, where he lay down with his tail curling around his little brother’s. Gohan turned on his side so he could watch Turpin with ease, and he didn’t look like he planned to rest himself. Goku bit his lip to starve off a frown, and bent to pull the soft blanket over Gohan too. Then he smoothed down his wild hair. “If you start feeling warm, or dizzy, come find me or papa, okay?” Goku said. The team Vegeta had brought was busy producing new power suppressers, but for now they were still relying on Gohan to keep control. At least he was now safe enough to have an actual chance of managing that.      

Gohan gave a small nod, and with a last squeeze of his shoulder, Goku turned around to face his mate.

Immediately their gazes locked. Vegeta’s eyes were burning, like black coal with embers in their deep. It would be only too easy for them to ignite into an inferno. Goku stared right back, unwilling to be cowed. Guilt curled in his belly, but so did anger. He wished he could have simply rested in Vegeta’s arms… But there was no room for that now. Besides, a big part of Goku wanted to clock Vegeta squarely in the jaw for trying to blow up the planet.

“Goku? I’m going back to Tarble. Can you find the guest room yourself? There’s one just down the hall a bit…” Bulma called from next to the door, one foot already out of the room. She had caught onto the tension too and didn’t want to be anywhere near it when it blew up. When Goku nodded imperceptibly without looking away from Vegeta, Bulma let out a breath. “Please don’t blow any more holes in my house.” She muttered, without much hope, as she left.

Goku and Vegeta stared at each other for another long minute after she was gone, both refusing to be the first to look away.

“Lead the way.” Vegeta finally said with a mean smirk, breaking the silence. His request sounded more like and order, and forced Goku to turn on his heal and march towards the hallway, thereby losing their staring contest.

They strode swiftly towards the guestroom, walking close but not touching, their muscles rolling with tension. It was the sense of impending attack, of battle, but Goku knew that this wouldn’t be as easy as fighting it out physically.   

As soon as the guestroom door closed behind them, they both moved. Seconds later Vegeta had Goku pressed up against the opposite wall and a hand wrapped around his throat. All humor had fled from his face. “What were you _thinking_?!”

Goku shifted to stop a picture frame from digging into his back, and scowled back at Vegeta. He hadn’t moved fast enough, still not used to his body after several months of baby weight. A part of him also knew Vegeta wouldn’t hurt him, not here, not now. Even the hold he had around Goku’s throat was loose.

Vegeta brought his other hand up and shook him. “Answer me Kakarot! How could you do this?!”

Being faced with Vegeta’s anger was not pleasant, and Goku had to fight the urge to look away. He had died that same morning, and he hadn’t had the time to process yet. His skin still felt thin and stretched too far over his bone. Fragile.

Goku forced down his slowly rising nausea and tried to answer in an even tone. “Our people were starving, and I knew a way to save them. I had to.” Goku said, one hand curling around Vegeta’s wrist to slowly pull his grip away.

“You had to?” Vegeta asked, then barked out a hollow laugh and stood back. He tore his hand away from Goku like he was something dirty. “You had to go off on your own, seven damn months pregnant, and run right into Frieza’s clutches?”        

Blood flushed to Goku’s cheeks and his spine stiffened. “I—That’s not what I wanted to happen. I didn’t plan to—“

“—to what?!” Vegeta snapped, eyes burning. “To go behind my back, to conspire with pirates and endanger our children?!”

“YOU GAVE ME NO CHOICE!” Goku yelled.

The sudden silence in the room after Goku’s outburst was heavy and cloying. The only sound was their heavy breathing. Goku stared at Vegeta for a long second, startled by his own shout, before looking down and away. His hands curled into fists at his side. “You think I wanted to leave?” Goku asked, voice a whisper. He leaned back on the wall and hid his face in his hands, his next words coming out muffled. “I just wanted to be safe, and home, together with you and Gohan. I wanted to birth my baby in peace and get to care for him without—“ His breath hitched, “—without this constant feeling that I was being strangled by guilt. Without feeling trapped and powerless. People, children, were dying and I didn’t know what else to _do_.”

With a low growl, Vegeta took a step forwards and pulled down Goku’s hands to reveal his face. “You should have come to me. Me, Kakarot! You always had that choice.” His hands clenched around Goku’s wrists to try and stop his own from shaking. His jaw clenched to the point of pain. “Why the hell didn’t you?”

That was the real question; the one that had plagued Vegeta ever since he learned that Kakarot had gone off on his own. Why?

There was a fragile note to Vegeta’s voice, hidden underneath the anger. Goku heard it and had to swallow several times before he could answer. “… I wanted to trust you Vegeta. I wanted it so badly.” Goku closed his eyes, like not seeing would make his admission hurt less. “I almost did. That morning when I left, when you were leaving, I was going to tell you but—“ He broke off and shook his head, mouth pulling down at the corners. “—You called me a pet!” Goku spat, surprised how much the memory still made his blood boil.

“What?” Vegeta frowned, momentarily thrown from his anger, not believing what he was hearing. “No, I don’t remember that. I would never call you something like that and mean it. You know that Kakarot.”

“Do I?” Goku asked, still refusing to look at Vegeta, who hadn’t let go of his wrists. “I know you called me that as a joke, but it felt too true. Just moments before you had put extra guards on me and called a medic I didn’t need, overriding my every request and choice as you _always do_.” He looked back up at Vegeta, eyes wet but hard. “You treat me like a child! Like I’m helpless! And worse, you still don’t respect me.”

“You know that’s not tr—“

“—Let me finish.” Goku said, determined to get this out before he lost his composure again. His ears were already ringing and he couldn’t really get his knees to lock properly. It was lucky he had the wall to lean on.  

Taking a deep breath, Goku tried to steady himself. Yes, he might have had personal reasons for going alone, but there were other worries too; worries that he had turned out to be right about. “You’re a really skeptical person, and you already didn’t listen to me. Why would you believe me if I claimed a magical dragon could save us? And even if you did, I knew you’d go alone. I couldn’t even be sure you wouldn’t hurt my friends to get the dragon balls!” He gritted his teeth and gestured with his head towards the direction of the living room. “You just tried to kill your own brother because you thought he was lying. You tried to blow up the planet in a fit of rage! I was _scared_ to let you go alone.” And his fear had not been unfounded.  

Vegeta could not deny those actions, but his hands tightened their grip again at Goku’s accusation that Vegeta treated him like he was helpless. It was the same argument they had had in the aftermath of their battle on Zelua. Vegeta had thought they were over that already. He stared venomously back at Goku. “This again? Maybe I’d respect you more if you didn’t act like a reckless idiot!”

“You mean if I acted responsibly and did my job, just like I was doing every day?” Goku asked, sarcasm tinting his tone. “It didn’t matter what treaties I helped make, or how many other saiyans I taught ki control and techniques to. You still wouldn’t trust me to know my own mind or take care of myself.”

Scoffing, Vegeta let go of Goku’s wrists and stood back. He rolled his eyes skywards and threw out his arm in a sharp gesture as he paced in a circle. “Oh yes, poor Kakarot! Forced to bear the duty of a royal consort, forced to let other take care of you from time to time, forced to be careful, as though there weren’t assassins waiting around every corner and a price out on your fucking head!” he slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a sizable dent behind. “We are at war! This is not the time to ‘prove yourself’ or whatever it is you think you’re doing!”

Goku brought his arms up and hugged himself, looking down at the floor once again.

“What, no more to say?” Vegeta asked as he spun on his heal to face Goku again. “No more imagined slights?” Seconds later he was back in Goku’s face and hissing. “You said you forgave me for my words on Zelua, but you just can’t let it go, can you?”

“I said I wasn’t angry anymore… Not that all was forgiven.” Goku responded slowly, voice low and eyes still averted. His lower lip wobbled and he bit it to make it stop. “You promised me that you would prove you didn’t mean it. You promised to try. And then you only got worse.” Goku finally looked at Vegeta again, eyes swimming. “You threatened me back then, you said you’d lock me up, like—like a prisoner!” The tears overflowed and ran down his cheeks. “And then you practically did just that, while you left to fight on your own, as if I wouldn’t be able to help— as if I wouldn’t care!”

“So what,” Vegeta spat, “You thought you’d pay me back by running away? I was just trying to protect you! You act like I’m forcing you to be somewhere you don’t want to be!”

Goku grew curiously still at Vegeta’s snarled accusation. “Aren’t you?” He asked, a dark note hiding just below his otherwise soft voice. “If I said I wanted to leave, would you let me? Would you let me go?”

Vegeta’s teeth clicked together, and his jaw grew taut as Goku gazed at him with an almost blank expression. They both knew the true answer to that question was ‘no’. Vegeta would never let his mate leave, not as long as he still drew breath.

There mere suggestion that Goku didn’t want to be with him, that he was considering leaving him, splitting their family up… It wasn’t the first time he had spoken of that, empty as the threat might have been back on Zelua, just before he entered the healing tank. Even so, Vegeta suddenly couldn’t breathe.  

Something in Goku’s eyes grew kinder when he saw Vegeta’s turmoil. He placed a hand on Vegeta’s chest, right over his heart. “You don’t realize that you don’t need to hold me Vegeta. Even if I left, I’d still come back. Why can’t you see that?”

“But you didn’t come back.” Vegeta said, strangled. “You died.”

“I…” Goku has no comeback to that. “I’ll come back.” He promised quietly.

“Kakarot…” Vegeta ground out, and pulled Goku forward and into a tight embrace. He pressed his nose to Goku’s neck and tried to get his pulse under control. He still wanted to throttle Goku, but he also wanted to touch him softly everywhere, to once more reassure himself that he was whole and uninjured. He wanted to show his beta that he was a good mate, a worthy mate, but there was just something fundamentality wrong with Goku compared to other betas. He didn’t appreciate Vegeta’s protection; he constantly struggled to be free and independent, like he didn’t need anyone at all. It drove Vegeta mad.

His hands curled against Goku’s back, fisting in the soft material of the robe. When he spoke again, his words came out low and measured. “I just spent over a week hunting you through the universe, desperately trying to get to you and our children in time, only to watch that monster torture you.”

Goku stiffened and Vegeta pulled back, then cupped Goku’s face between his hands. Goku stared at him with wide eyes, wet cheeks smushed by Vegeta’s trembling palms. Vegeta locked gazes with him and continued speaking, voice raw. “You just made every last one of my nightmares come true, do you realize that? I had to see you, bleeding and broken, while I was powerless to help. And if it wasn’t for some strange magical artifact, you would be dead. I thought our last conversation would be some static words over a scouter, that the last time I’d see you were when you lay flayed at Frieza’s feet, and that I’d never get to hold my youngest before he died within you.   _I thought you were dead_!”

Goku’s breath hitched and his expression crumbled, guilt finally winning over anger. “I’m sorry Vegeta, I’m so sorry. I just thought—“

“—You say you had reasons, but what justifies that?! If you had only told me, talked to me, I would have helped you!” Vegeta continued, voice growing louder and louder. “Turpin won’t even recognize you when you come back!”

“Stop, please.” Goku begged, his eyes closing and more tears escaping. He shuddered, suppressing a sob. “D-don’t say anymore, please Vegeta.”

For once, Vegeta did as asked, but only because he didn’t need to say anymore. Goku was already crying, choking back sobs and shivering; but not from cold. He was clearly remorseful, but Vegeta didn’t know if it would change anything in the long run. Kakarot didn’t trust Vegeta, and as such Vegeta couldn’t trust him. All this from a stupid argument and words spoken in anger – all this because when Vegeta tried to protect him, Goku saw nothing but restrictions to his ‘freedom’.

…Of course there was also Vegeta’s last lapse in sanity. He could admit that blowing Earth up hadn’t been his brightest move, even if it would have been cathartic. It was doubtful that Goku would ever forget his actions, and they didn’t paint Vegeta in a good light. He preferred not to think about his own place in the blame though.  

Vegeta moistened his dry lips and ran a hand over Goku’s shoulder. He could feel the beta shaking. “Trying to protect you doesn’t mean I don’t respect you. I do not doubt your worth as a warrior.”

It was a simple statement, but it only made Goku cry even harder. Vegeta hated seeing it, but said nothing. He just pulled Goku close again so he could cling against Vegeta as he sobbed. They stood there, almost swaying as Goku let out all the anger, frustration and grief from the last several days through his tears. Vegeta just held him, because at this point there was nothing he could say that would bring comfort. If Vegeta hadn’t felt so drained by now, he would probably have cried too, but exhaustion was catching up to him after several weeks of sleep deprivation and high stress. Vegeta couldn’t even remember the last time he had laid down to sleep, and suddenly the bed in the room looked incredibly tempting. His mate was back in his arms, his children were right down the hall, and there were a fleet of his ships circling the planet – an adequate defense for a while at least.

“Come here.” Vegeta said and pulled Goku towards the bed. Now that he had become aware of his exhaustion, the room was practically swimming before his eyes. Nothing was really fixed between them, but there were no more energy within either of them to continue fighting of reconciling right now. Getting Goku on the bed wasn’t hard, and as soon as they were under the covers Vegeta put an arm around him and pulled him close, nose to Goku’s neck. He let out a sigh that felt like he had held it for weeks. “You drive me insane when you’re here, and make me lose my sanity when you’re not.” He admitted in a whisper, next to Goku’s ear. “How is that even possible Kakarot?”

Goku’s only response was to curl into him, breath still hitching. Moments later, Vegeta fell asleep to the sound.

 

xXx

 

Goku woke up, he didn’t know how much later. His chest felt full and strained though, so it had been a while. He needed to find Turpin and nurse him to alleviate the pressure. He sat up slowly with a groan and rubbed his sore and gritty eyes. Goku hated crying. He wasn’t ashamed off it, but it always left him so drained, and with a swollen face. After clearing his vision, he gazed down at Vegeta, who for once hadn’t woken up when he moved. Vegeta was normally a light sleeper, but right now he seemed to be out cold. Goku ran his eyes over his mate’s face and noticed lines which had not been there before. He frowned. Knowing Vegeta, he had probably not slept since he learned Goku was gone; he likely hadn’t even rested. Once more Goku felt guilt climb up his throat in the form of stomach acid. That, coupled with the feeling that he should have been with his children instead of sleeping. How many hours had he wasted while lost to unconsciousness?

With a tired sigh, Goku carefully tried to climb over Vegeta without disturbing him. His mind was already on other things, mainly his sons, when a red blinking light caught the corner of his eyes. Frowning, Goku followed it to its source; Vegeta’s wrist pad. The prince hadn’t even taken it off before falling asleep.

After staring at it for a breathless second, Goku shook Vegeta’s shoulder. The light gave him a bad feeling. “Vegeta—Vegeta wake up, your wrist pad is blinking.”

“Wha—?” Vegeta asked, instantly awake but not particularly alert yet. He blinked at Goku and cleared his throat. “What?”

“Your wrist pad,” Goku pointed, “It’s blinking. It’s some kind of code, but I don’t recognize it.”

Vegeta’s head snapped around to stare at the blinking red light, only for his stomach to plummet. He knew that code. He knew it too well. “Get up. Get the children.” He ordered as he ripped off the comforter and jumped out of bed.

After hastily pulling his robe around himself, Goku scrambled after him. “Vegeta what’s happening? What does it mean?”

Vegeta paused at the door and closed his eyes. His hand squeezed around the doorway until the metal groaned and gave under his fingers. “It’s code for enemy fleet approaching, one big enough to be a threat.” He opened his eyes and looked back at Goku, face grim. “It means Earth is getting invaded.”   

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Insert something witty, sarcastic and vaguely self deprecating*

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Overwhelmed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13475211) by [CTON (CTtheOrangeNinja)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CTtheOrangeNinja/pseuds/CTON)
  * [Turning Memory to Bread](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13866711) by [Dulcinea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dulcinea/pseuds/Dulcinea)
  * [Uncle, Brother, Babysitter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13892013) by [Dulcinea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dulcinea/pseuds/Dulcinea)




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